


Grease Monkey

by DarkHair_BrightEyes



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Mechanics, Closeted Character, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-29
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-01-26 23:39:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 34,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1706795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHair_BrightEyes/pseuds/DarkHair_BrightEyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>NEW CHAPTER UPDATE!!!</p><p>Mechanic AU. Mickey is a mechanic in the Southside whose life is turned upside down by a certain redheaded client with car trouble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bucket of Bolts

Mickey was looking forward to his day off; he had turned off all of the alarms on his phone and anticipated an extra couple hours of glorious sleep ahead of a day of nothing. He was awoken suddenly by the shrill ring of his cell. _Way too early to have won a free cruise to the Bahamas_ , he thought to himself. Mickey groaned and fumbled blindly around his bedside table to end the piercing noise.

“You fucker” Mickey croaked into the phone.

“Yeah well ass face, I wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t important” Danny quipped back.

“I need you to cover for me today, I gotta go to Lake Forest to visit the in-laws, Anna’s mother is not doing too well” Manny continued.

“Ugh, fine man, but you owe me like big for this, I haven’t had a day off since you went 7 days a week last month” Mickey grumbled as he climbed out of bed and headed across the hall to turn on the shower.

“You want some cheese with that wine, fuck man its family I don’t have to explain that to you.”

“I’m just sayin’ man, a month, once you sort your family shit out I’m not doing weekends anymore.”

“You’re always just saying Mick, talk later man.”

“Yeah later man.” Mickey tossed his phone onto the vanity and stepped under the hot spray of the shower.

Danny was the only person he had ever allowed himself to care for outside of his family. As much as Mickey busted his balls there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for the guy. Danny was the reason he was taking a shower in his own apartment, sure it was a shitty one bedroom in the Southside, but it was his. Mickey felt forever indebted to Danny because Danny took a chance on him.

Six years ago after his latest stint in juvie his parole officer had found him a job at a mechanic. Danny was the owner. He’d taken Mickey under his wing. He’d never pitied Mickey or his situation and weirdly trusted the vertically challenged thug. The brotherly-like bond between them grew quickly, Mickey had even been a groomsman at Danny and Anna’s wedding last year. Danny promoted Mickey to manager when Anna got pregnant to give him more time to be a family man.

* * *

It was an average day at the garage, the usual amount of customers, Mickey grumbled through the day barking orders at the other mechanics. Most of the mechanics were accustomed to Mickey’s abrasive demeanor and knew not to push his buttons on days like today when he was particularly icy. Mickey was finishing up the paperwork for the last customer of the day and the others were heading home after cleaning up the garage. As Mickey turned the receipt to the customer for a signature he saw the flashing lights of a tow truck pull into the parking lot. Mickey rolled his eyes as he handed the customer her keys and followed her out to get the details from the tow driver.

 _Of course he wasn’t going to get outta here early today_ he thought to himself.

“Sorry for the late call, but you guys were the closest when the kid said he wanted someone Southside” the tow driver hollered as he lowered the beater into the parking lot.

“ ‘salright man, no worries” Mickey lied, “So what’s the deal?” He questioned.

“He said that it just wouldn’t start when he got off work” the driver responded as he nodded his head up towards the passenger side of the truck.

“Not surprised” Mickey said under his breath as he turned from looking at the heap of metal to the tall, lean, muscular redhead climbing out of the passenger side. Mickey couldn’t help but admire the build of the tall man; his crisp white dress shirt clung perfectly to his well-toned muscles underneath. The red head looked up from his phone and smiled at the mechanic, a smile that felt somewhat hypnotizing. Mickey quickly dropped his eyes to the ground and cleared his throat to shake off the strange feeling that had consumed him; the social and emotional barriers he had built up his whole life immediately reasserted themselves.

“This your bucket of bolts we’re supposed to be fixin’? ” Mickey asked. The red head turned to look at the grubby mechanic and over-dramatically brought his hand to his chest with a gasp. 

“How dare you, it’s a classic” he responded sarcastically. The redhead smiled as he stepped away from the tow truck as he admired the dark haired man. He had to check himself to make sure his ogling wasn’t obvious as he was drawn in by the mechanic’s crystal blue eyes.

“Is that so” Mickey smiled back. “Look we’re closing up for the night so I’ll take your info inside and we’ll see what we can do with your _Classic_ tomorrow." Mickey resisted the urge to use air quotes when saying classic to the redhead, too gay he thought, however he did ensure to emphasize his sarcasm. The redhead nodded and followed him into the garage’s office.

“So it just won’t start? Any idea why?” Mickey asked as he went around the front desk to sit in front of the computer.

“Probably would have something to do with Christmas tree lit up on the dash” the redhead replied honestly with a grin. Mickey looked up from the computer, one eyebrow raised to his hairline. The redhead shrugged and simply replied “I know nothing about cars.”

“Alright then,” Mickey smiled. “Name?” Mickey inquired.

“Ian” the redhead continued to smile at him “Ian Gallagher, G-A-L-L-A-G-H-E-R” Mickey nodded as he fixed his vision to the computer screen. 

“Phone?”

“Here” Ian replied as he pulled a business card from his wallet and handed it to Mickey. Mickey nodded as he took the card and began to type the numbers into the computer. When Mickey finished with the computer he looked up at Ian

“and keys?” he questioned the redhead again. Ian handed over his set. Mickey took them and quickly turned to walk to the back of the garage to hang them up, while he was in the back out of sight he ran his hand over his face with a long sigh trying to somehow erase the feeling the redhead was having on him. After taking 30 seconds to check himself for the second time since meeting the tall stranger, Mickey turned to head back to the front.

“Whatever needs to be done, it probably won’t come cheap” Mickey said loudly as he came around the corner to face Ian “beaters get to a point when they cost more money than their worth. ” Ian nodded his head with a slightly disappointed look on his face, Mickey could see the disappointment and quickly added “I’ll call you once we look it over and let you know what the deal is before we do anything.” Ian looked up at Mickey with an appreciative smile.

“Thanks man, appreciate it. Just keep in mind the technical stuff is Chinese to me.”

“Got it, idiot terms” Mickey turned and smiled at Ian, raising both eyebrows to his hairline. A goading smile.

“Hey now, I won’t converse in economic and marketing terminology if you don’t talk in mechanic mumbo jumbo, deal?” Ian asked.

“Deal” mickey nodded as he grabbed his jacket from the back of the office chair and flicked off the overhead lights. Ian got the hint and headed for the door; Mickey followed and locked up as the exited.

He turned to Ian “you gotta way outta here, or you need me to call you a cab or somethin’?” Mickey asked as he lit up a cigarette and took a drag.

“Nah, I’ll just hop on the L” Ian responded.

“Brave, man.” Mickey quipped, “I’m headed that way so ...” Mickey jerked his head toward the L station as a cue for Ian to follow. Ian caught up with Mickey as they walked to the L. They walked for a couple of minutes in an awkward silence.

Ian broke the silence first. “So you been a mechanic long?”

Mickey shot Ian a questioning look, “certified? About five years, why?”

Ian shrugged his shoulders, “just making conversation.”

“Oh yeah? ” Mickey raised his eyebrows while taking a final drag on his dying cigarette, “so why did ya want someone Southside?”

“I may be Northside now because of my job but I was born and raised Southside man.”

Mickey looked at him with general surprise, “oh yeah?”

“Yeah man, North Wallace, Back of the yards.”

“Shit, I was only a few blocks from there.”

“As ironic as it sounds there’s honesty in the Southside, the Northside mechanics would have just bled me dry.”

Mickey grunted with an approving nod in response.

They both stopped under the L before heading toward opposite platforms, Mickey started walking toward his stairs and turned around to yell back to the redhead. “I’ll call you about your car tomorrow.”

“Alright man, talk to you tomorrow” Ian responded and before Mickey could get too far, quickly yelled “eh man, what’s your name?”

“It’s MICKEY!” Mickey yelled as he was climbing the stairs to his platform.

Ian turned and smiled to himself as he took the stairs to his platform 2 at a time.

* * *

Usually Mickey’s train ride home consisted of him staring off at nothing in particular, looking forward to the nice hot shower he would have once he was home. Today however he couldn’t get a particular redhead off his mind. He was fumbling in his pockets playing with the edge of the business card Ian had given him. He pulled it out and kept reading it over,

**Infinity Consulting**

**Ian Gallagher**

**Junior Marketing Associate**

He grunted and shifted his weight as he felt a smile creeping across his face. He shoved the card back into his pocket, fished out his cell and sent off a text.

“Hey man even had to stay late for a tow client. now you owe me a case of beers … hope Anna’s moms okay”

He didn’t wait for Danny to respond, he knew that Anna was his priority right now. He started playing 2048 on his phone hoping to distract himself from a certain smiling redhead.


	2. Sorry for Your Loss

Mickey crashed through the door of his shitty apartment while balancing his pizza and six pack of bud in one hand and his mail and keys in the other. He managed to get the edge of the pizza box onto the counter just as it was slipping out of his hand. He moped around most of the evening finishing off his pizza and most of his beers. He kept himself distracted whenever the memory of the redhead and his smile crept back into his mind; he watched some random football game on the TV, and his heavy bag in the corner of his living room saw its fair share of abuse. Finally when his arms felt like lead from fatigue and his shirt was soaked through with sweat he made his way to his shower.

It was a restless night of constant tossing and turning. Finally at 5:22 am after 45 minutes of starring at the ceiling Mickey rolled out of bed and slowly began getting dressed. The sun had just begun to rise as he made his way out of the bedroom to the kitchen to make coffee. Twenty minutes and 2 cups of black tar later, Mickey was headed out the door. He figured he might as well distract himself with work, the faster he can figure out what’s wrong with the redhead’s car, with Ian’s car, the sooner Ian will be out of his life and the lingering feeling that is able to break through his well-constructed barriers will also be gone.

6:34 am. Mickey sat behind the desk of the garage office, swiveling back and forth in his chair, he’d been at work for 5 minutes and was already regretting his decision. His first junior mechanic was scheduled to start at 8, technically when the garage opened, and he was not about to sit on his ass twiddling his thumbs for an hour and a half.

 _Fuckin’ do it myself,_ Mickey thought. He moaned as he got up and headed around the back shoving on his old pair of coveralls as he went. He made his way to Ian’s beater in the parking lot; he popped the hood and got to work.

* * *

 

Mickey was on his back underneath Ian’s jacked up car, completely focused in his work when he felt someone kick at his leg.

“The fuck?” Mickey grumbled as he slid out from under the car.

“What the hell are you doing, its 7:15, you lookin’ for a raise or somethin’?” Danny questioned as he handed Mickey one of the coffees in his hands.

“Pffft, from your cheap ass, yeah right man” Mickey quipped as he wiped his hands and stood up.

“Eh now, did I not give you a raise when you started managing this place after we found out we were having Callie.”

“Yeah, but with the amount of hours I work it would have been slave labour if you didn’t” Mickey smirked at Danny as he sipped at his coffee. Danny smiled back and did the same.

“How is the rug rat anyway?” Mickey questioned

“She’s good man, really good” Danny face broke out into a huge, proud father grin. Mickey just starred at Danny in awe of how naturally he had expressed his emotion. “She’ll be four months in three days and each day she looks more and more like Anna”

Mickey just nodded in response as he starred down into his coffee; uncomfortable with the emotional direction this conversation was headed. Danny turned back to look at Mickey, he knew him well enough to know that Mickey cared about him and his family but wasn’t really comfortable hearing about his mushy dad feelings. He quickly clapped Mickey on the shoulder and switched back to their original line of conversation.

“So what’s up man? I mean, you don’t usually don the grease monkey suit unless you absolutely have to nowadays.” Danny pulled at the collar of Mickey’s coveralls to emphasize his point.

Mickey just shrugged as he finished off the last of his coffee, “just couldn’t sleep man.”

“Ahh” Danny nodded in mock understanding “booty call gone wrong? Did she overstay her welcome?”

“We’re not doing this man” Mickey grumbled as he fumbled in his pocket for his pack of smokes.

“Doing what!? Come on man, tell Doctor Danny all about your lady troubles” Danny asked sarcastically.

Mickey smiled around the cigarette in his mouth as he starred at the ground and shuffled his feet, “never gonna happen.”

Danny raised his hand so that it was facing palm up and began to mime with the other as if he was scribbling down a note on a pretend note pad. “Awkward one night stand, tender topic, probe no further.”

Mickey just gave him the finger in response. Danny smiled at Mickey and gave him a slight pat on the back, he turned and started heading toward the office door.

“Eh back to work, I ain’t payin’ ya to chit chat!” He yelled over his shoulder when he was a few feet away.

Mickey laughed to himself as he yelled back before getting down to get back under the car “you’re weird man!”

Relationships were never something that they spoke about. It just felt too weird. Mickey didn’t do relationships, his sex life consisted of drunken hook-ups and one night stands. He didn’t talk about the majority of his hook-ups being guys, or that sometimes he hated himself so much that he would get piss drunk and bang a chick as if to prove to himself that he wasn’t gay. _He was just a guy who liked it in the ass, besides_ _it was no one’s fucking business who he fucked_ Mickey thought to himself. He had enough of his own self-loathing to deal with whenever he gave into temptation; he didn’t need to deal with anyone else hating him. He never told Danny, he couldn’t afford to lose one of the only people that he fully trusted and respected.

* * *

 

Mickey couldn’t ignore his grumbling stomach anymore. He slid out from under Ian’s car, walked up to the driver’s side and turned the key. The engine groaned and moaned for a couple seconds before it finally turned over and wheezed to life. Mickey smiled to himself; he turned off the car, picked up his shit and headed back inside the garage.

He poked his head into Danny’s office as he picked up his phone from the front counter noticing the time. 9:41 am.

“Eh, I’m gonna get some eggs. See you in a bit.”

“Alright man, say hi to Mandy for me” Danny hollered back from behind his desk.

Mickey briskly walked the two blocks to the 24 hour diner. He walked in to see his sister pouring a cup of coffee to some deadbeat slumped over the counter.

“Douchebag” he spat as he sat down at the counter.

“Assface” she spat back as she poured him a cup of coffee “What are you doing here so early? It’s not even 10.”

“Sherlock Holmes, ladies and gentlemen" Mickey deadpanned as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Jerk" Mandy responded as she leaned over the pass to order Mickey's usual.

"Just a late night. Danny says Hi”

“Hel-lo” she sing-songed. “Was the sex at least worth it? Because judging by the sour look on your face” she lent in and whispered “you could have done better.”

“Why is everyone assuming I got laid? I just couldn’t sleep.”

“Uh huh, okay. Here are your eggs Romeo.”

Mickey grunted in appreciation and began shoveling the yellow clumps into his mouth, immediately relieving the feeling of clawing hunger. Mandy starred down at her brother with a slight look of disgust.

“Yo slow down, the foods not gonna run away.”

“Hungry” Mickey mumbled with a mouth full of egg.

“You’re disgusting.”

Mickey swallowed before responding “yeah well it’s a family trait, so …” he drew out while starring up at Mandy and raising an eyebrow.

Mandy just rolled her eyes. She began refilling his coffee before her tone got serious.

“You seen Evan lately?” She asked sincerely.

“Last month” Mickey avoided eye contact.

“A month Mick, really?” her tone got stern.

“Been workin’” Mickey shrugged.

Mandy’s hand connected with the back of Mickey’s head. “The fuck, Mandy?”

“Seriously!?” she looked at him with annoyance, “he misses you. Call him you prick.” She sighed heavily and quickly turned away to serve another customer. Mickey watched her walk away as he bit down hard on his bottom lip.

He turned his head back to his plate. “whatever” he said to himself as he threw a bill down on the counter to cover his tab and stormed out, heading back to the garage.

* * *

 

Mickey had paced around the garage for almost an hour with Ian’s business card in his hand. He eventually called in one of the junior techs, told him the details on Ian’s car and had him call. The tech turned to Mickey confused after he kept rattling off detail over detail.

“Why can’t you just call him Mick, I’m gonna forget half that shit.”

“I’m training, you want to be a well-rounded mechanic you need to learn how to call clients” Mickey lied.

Before the tech could respond, Mickey turned to away and shouted so that both the tech and Danny could hear.

“I’ll be in the back, checkin’ on the guys!”

Mickey grabbed his coveralls and headed out the door, he figured he’d distract himself by working on another job.

* * *

 

It was quarter to six when Ian stepped into the garage office. His face fell slightly when he was not met with dark hair and piercing blue eyes, instead he was met by a somewhat portly, sandy haired man with glasses.

“Hey, what can I do you for?” Danny asked from behind the counter, curious about the tall redhead dressed in a navy blazer and blue dress shirt. _Not from this part of town then_ Danny thought to himself.

“I’m Ian Gallagher, I talked to Mickey yesterday about my car” Ian pointed towards where it was parked in the lot.

“Alright, just a sec” Danny leaned back in the chair and propped the door to the garage open with his foot “Yo, Mickey!” Manny yelled in a ‘yo Adrian’-like fashion.

Ian smiled to himself as he made the movie reference.

About a minute passed before the gruff mechanic barged through the back door. He saw tinge of red through the frosted glass of the back door, so he knew what he was walking into when he eventually made his way to the front. He was still caught off guard through; the strange feeling from yesterday immediately overwhelmed him as he saw Ian standing there is his well-cut office attire. Once Mickey made his way to the counter, Danny stood and grabbed Mickey by the shoulder.

“Well I’m gonna head out, lock up when you’re done Mick” Danny headed for the front door jingling his keys in his pocket.

“Aw come on man, I opened.”

“I didn’t ask you to be here at the ass crack of dawn” Danny quipped as he opened the door and gave Mickey the finger as Ian’s back was to him.

Mickey just glared at Danny’s retreating figure. He turned his head after a few seconds to be met with Ian’s striking green eyes upon him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you stay late” Ian offered up honestly. He felt a little guilty after witnessing the exchange between the two men only moment ago.

“Don’t worry about it, Danny’s just being a dick” Mickey responded as he shuffled through the paper work on the desk.

Ian pursed his lips and nodded.

“Ian, right?” Mickey asked nonchalantly as he looked down at the counter, trying to play it like he hadn’t memorized the business card.

“Right” Ian beamed at Mickey.

Mickey looked up and couldn’t fight the smirk that crept across his face. “Okay Ian, so your heavenly piece of metal over there” Mickey pointed in the direction of Ian’s car “is not long for this world.”

“That bad?” Ian questioned disappointed.

“mmm hmm” Mickey nodded “I know you’re not big on the technical stuff, so I’ll just say I’ve done what I can, and it’ll start, but I can’t even guarantee that it will make it through the current tank of gas without repeating this dance.” Mickey gestured his hand between himself and Ian to make his point.

Ian tried to hide his amusement. Excitement began to build within him at the prospect of seeing Mickey over and over again; his mind started creating scenarios in which Mickey would ask him how he could _help_ , the phrase immersed in sexual innuendo. He quickly came back to the present when he realized that future would probably cost him an arm and a leg and leave him destitute within a couple of weeks.

“Well I guess I was gonna have to face this outcome sooner or later.”

“Yeah well I know it was your _classic_ , so sorry for your loss man” Mickey said sarcastically.

Ian actually chuckled out loud at that “I can see your broken up about it, so what do I owe ya?”

When Mickey heard the redhead laugh something in him jumped, he didn’t want it to stop. Their eyes met again and Mickey felt drawn in.

“Ahh look” Mickey grumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck “I’m not gonna charge you for the labour, so let’s just say $100 for the diagnostic and parts.”

“It’s gotta be more than that man.” It was. The labour alone would have been 3 or 4 bills, but Mickey couldn’t bring himself to make Ian pay for _his_ services. So he figured he would only charge Ian for the indirect aspects of the job.

“Nah, $100 and were good.”

“Alright, well at least let me buy you a beer, you know as a thanks.”

Mickey bit down on his bottom lip as he thought the offer over; he took the bills from Ian’s hand and tossed them in the till. “Yeah, alright.”

Mickey handed Ian his keys and came around the counter “got a local joint you favourite, or do you want me to Google map something?”

Mickey chuckled at Ian’s eagerness, “there’s a place about three blocks down” Mickey replied as he switched off the lights and headed for the door.

“Cool” Ian replied as he brushed past Mickey through the doorway. There was something about the shorter man that made Ian want to get closer to him, to touch him. So he took the narrow doorway to his advantage and leaned over the dark haired man. The energy between them was palpable.

As soon as they were out of the shop, Mickey quickly lit up a cigarette and took a long drag in an attempt to calm his jumpy nerves. Something about this charismatic redhead had him unsure and fidgety. He’d never felt this before.

“It’s this way” Mickey tilted his head in the direction of the bar and began walking on his own.

Ian smiled wide as Mickey’s back was to him and then jogged the couple feet to catch up with grumbling mechanic.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had originally planned for this part to be Ian picking up his car and them going for a drink, but then Manny and Mandy happened and by the time I actually got the the going for a drink part it was 2500 words. So I guess that will be the next part.
> 
> Thanks to all who commented and left kudos, and those of you that just read it and enjoyed it.  
> I appreciate all the love as this is my first fic, and I'm a little paranoid when it comes to my writing.


	3. Yeah, I Could Hang Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *update* - just realized that Ian and Mickey's ages did not fit my timeline, I've fixed it now.
> 
> Some Canon lines and brief smut.

Mickey brought his cigarette to his lips and took a long drag as he and Ian walked side by side in silence. Ian glanced down at the mechanic and immediately noticed the script scrawled across his knuckles barely visible under the grease smears.

Ian laughed under his breath.

“What’s so funny chuckles?” Mickey glanced up and Ian.

“Your, uhhh, tattoo, its subtle.”

Mickey’s eyebrows shot to his hairline surprised at Ian’s observation.

“Yeah well, being from my family and growing up in the Southside, subtly wasn’t an option” Mickey said honestly as he tossed the butt of his cigarette away.

“Is it just the one offensive curse or does the other hand match?” Ian questioned sarcastically.

Mickey smirked as he rubbed his other knuckles against his jeans, attempting to rub off the grease, before making a fist to show Ian the other hand.

Ian chuckled as he read the other hand and looked down at the mechanic with a questioning glance. “Seriously, ‘FUCK U-UP’?”

“It got the point across” Mickey said matter-of-factly.

“I’m sure” Ian grinned wide “so how many people had to, uhhh, get the point?” Ian asked through his smile.

“You sure ask a lot of questions man” Mickey shrugged uncomfortably.

“I’m sorry, I’m a bit chatty, and you just seem like the strong, silent type. I just figured that questions were the best way to keep the conversation going, but I can stop, I mean if it’s too much, I can stop.” Ian rushed through his explanation; something about the mechanic put him on edge. He turned to look at Mickey with a pleading expression, as if to say, ‘please don’t hate me.’

“Calm down red, I’m just not use to it.”

“Sorry, I got ahead of myself. Alright, free pass, you can ask me anything.”

Mickey quirked his eyebrow as he turned to Ian, as if silently asking ‘really?'

Ian just stared back waiting to give Mickey anything, anything to build a relationship.

“Alright then chatty Cathy, you got any tats?”

Ian smiled before responding nonchalantly “one or two.”

“What, that’s all I get? What happened to the over-sharing?” Mickey questioned confused as he opened the door to the bar holding it open for Ian to go through.

Ian smirked as he leaned over Mickey while passing through the door frame. He dropped his head to Mickey’s ear and whispered “For now.”

Mickey couldn’t hide the slightly shocked expression on his face as Ian pulled away and turned back to see Mickey come through the door. A moment passed between the two, a silent understanding. They both realized that they wanted the same thing.

The bar was a dive, it was dark and dingy and there were a few greying regulars hunched over the counter. Mickey and Ian took one of the booths away from most of the other people. The bartender brought over their drinks, Mickey just stared down at the table avoiding eye contact. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket; he pulled it out and checked the message.

**6:22 pm Danny**

**Case of beer on your kitchen counter shithead**

Mickey smiled as he read the message.

**6:24 pm Mickey**

**Thx man**

Mickey quickly typed his reply and put the phone down on the table and looked up to see Ian staring at him.

“Am I keeping you from somethin’” Ian asked as he nodded towards Mickey’s phone on the table.

“Nope just makin’ good on a deal.”

Ian just nodded in understanding as they both took long pulls from their beers.

* * *

 

An hour later and three beers down the two were still sat across from each other engaging in random bouts of conversation in between awkward moments of staring laced with sexual tension.

Mickey cleared his throat attempting to break said tension.

“Well, uhh, thanks for the beers man” Mickey began to shuffle out of the booth.

Ian just nodded to himself; it'd been a while since he had been with someone as far in the closet as Mickey. He knew the rules, slow, and never in public.

“It’s no problem man, maybe we can do it again sometime” Ian stood up as Mickey stood and in a hushed voice continued “but maybe somewhere more _comfortable_ next time.” His emphasis was dripping in sexual innuendo.

Mickey immediately dropped his eyes and bit down on his bottom lip, “whatever man.” They both exited the bar and Mickey immediately dug out his smokes.

“I’m gonna head back to my car, but you have my number if you want to do this again” Ian didn’t really want to leave, but he knew that Mickey was going to have to be the one to take the next step or else he was going to end up getting a message from Mickey’s fists. Ian turned his back and started walking as slow as possible but still trying to make it look like a normal pace.

Mickey’s bottom lip was practically raw with how much he was biting down on it. He watched Ian turn and fought the urge to run after him. He paced back a forth a couple of steps as he inhaled the smoke from his cigarette deep into his lungs; Ian by this point was just under a hundred feet away.

“eh yo!” Mickey yelled out as his stomach tossed and turned.

Ian turned back with a huge smile on his face, _if there was something he knew, it was men_ he thought to himself. Ian had started heading back to where Mickey was uncomfortably shifting his weight.

“I got a case of beers at my place if you wanna, I dunno, hang out or somethin’” Mickey’s eyes flicked back and forth from the ground to Ian as he got a few feet from Mickey.

“Yeah. Okay. I could hang out.”

“Alright, you can leave your car there if you don’t mind takin’ the L.”

“Well judging by your optimistic diagnosis it’s probably for the best” Ian quipped sarcastically.

* * *

 

They rode the L the three stops to get to Mickey’s apartment, it was only about a three minute walk after getting off the train. They stopped at the pizza place 3 buildings before Mickey’s apartment to get food as they had both had a good laugh at the rumblings of each others' stomachs on the L.

When they entered the apartment Ian immediately began to scan his eyes over everything; taking it all in. Mickey saw him looking around as he put the pizza on the coffee table in front of the TV.

“It’s not much, but it’s mine, ya know” Mickey felt the need to defend his shabby one bedroom to the surveying Northsider.

Ian smirked before responding “it’s funny, I use to tell people the same thing about my car.”

Mickey laughed as he walked over to his fridge. He glanced around looking for his beer. His kitchen counters only contained the usual, coffee maker, toaster, microwave and his standard box of Frosted Flakes. No beer.

“Lyin’ son of a bi-” Mickey’s angry grumble was cut short when he turned to his fridge to see a note taped to the door. He leaned over and grabbed the door handle as he read the note.

**Quit your bitchin'**

**It’s in the fridge princess**

“Fucker” Mickey smirked as he opened the door and grabbed two cold ones for him and Ian. He turned around to hand Ian one of the beers only to be met by that smile; that huge enigmatic smile that causes Mickey to slightly pause before actually handing him the beer. If Ian notices the falter he doesn’t let on as he accepts the beer and takes a sip.

“Bathroom?” Ian asks Mickey innocently

Mickey points down the little hallway to Ian’s right “it’s the one with the door handle” he says nonchalantly.

Ian turns back to him puzzled “your bedroom door doesn’t have a handle?”

Mickey just shrugged “it was always somethin’ I kept forgetting to pick up when I first moved in, then figured that I didn’t actually need one cause it’s just me.”

“Fair enough” Ian couldn’t help but agree with Mickey’s logic.

As Ian went to use the bathroom, Mickey sat down on the couch and grabbed a slice of pizza as he surfed the channels of the TV. Ian returned a couple of minutes later; he had his blazer slung over his arm, had undone a couple buttons on his dress shirt as well as rolled up the sleeves to just below the elbow. Mickey’s mouth watered as he watched Ian approach the couch tossing his blazer over the arm rest, he quickly turned his attention back to the movie he had put on and took a long pull from his beer. Ian flopped down on to the couch beside Mickey, closer than two complete strangers would normally sit but far enough that Ian wasn’t smothering Mickey.

“So what’s on?” Ian questioned Mickey as he reached for the pizza.

Mickey lit a cigarette before answering “Under Siege.”

“Interesting” Ian mumbled as he sipped on his beer.

“What’s interesting?”

“Just, you’re a Seagal fan; it’s interesting” Ian smirked.

“What? You sayin’ your not a fan, his movies are fuckin’ classic man.”

“Nah, he’s alright man but he’s no Van Damme” Ian couldn’t help goading Mickey.

“You are out of your fuckin’ mind, have you seen that fuckin’ pony tail, that’s a powerful fuckin’ ponytail, Seagal would totally kick Van Damme’s ass.”

Ian held up his hands in mock surrender as he stood looking back down at Mickey, he wiggled he beer bottle in his hand as he asked Mickey, “another?”

“Mmm hmm” Micked nodded.

Ian came back with two beers and handed one to Mickey. Mickey nodded as he accepted the beer from Ian and exhaled smoke from his nose. Ian knew he needed to switch tactics soon and avoid Mickey switching into silent brooding mode.

“So how about making things interesting?”

“You like that word, don’t chya?”

“A drinking game, we try to guess something about each other like favourite colour or age; if you guess wrong you drink, if you guess right I drink. Game?”

Mickey cracked open the beer Ian gave him and chugged half of it in an attempt to calm his nerves, his heart had begun to race when he thought about getting personal with Ian.

“k” Mickey shrugged

“Cool” Ian beamed “first question, age? I’m going to say 28”

“Fuck you. Drink.” Mickey huffed

“My bad. Your guess” Ian said far too amused by Mickey’s reaction as he took a swig of his beer

Mickey looked Ian up and down before saying bluntly “23”

The stunned reaction on Ian’s face was like a deer caught in head lights. He composed himself quickly and then shifted in his spot, bringing his left leg up and tucking his foot under his right knee so he was facing Mickey who was sitting against the left armrest, “beginners luck.” He smirked at Mickey as he downed some more of his beer. “Alright” Ian continued as he looked at Mickey quizzically “twenty fiiiiiivfourrr.”

“You wanna make up your mind” Mickey quipped as he finished off his cigarette.

“Four, twenty-four.”

“mmm” Mickey moaned around the mouth of his beer “you got lucky there red.”

Ian beamed, “okay, next question, favourite colour?”

Mickey huffed and stood heading toward the kitchen.

“Something I said” Ian questioned loudly.

“nah man” Mickey said over clinking glass from the kitchen “just figured we were gonna need somethin’ a little stronger” Mickey said as he came back towards the couch waving a bottle of Jack while clutching two shot glasses in the other hand. Mickey sat on the edge of the couch as he poured two shots.

“My guess right, and just primary colours, none of that twinkleberry shit?” Mickey questioned eying Ian.

“But twinkleberry is just _soooo_ pretty” Ian chuckled “yeah just the basics” he continued.

They went about three or four rounds before they were able to get to the colours. Ian was four shots of Jack down and was starting to get giggly by the time he guessed Mickey’s favourite, black. Ian tried to slur his way through an educational lecture that black was a shade and not a colour but lost his train of thought half way through. It had only taken Mickey three shots to get to Ian’s favourite, green.

“okayyy, lets do number of siblingsss, I’m g’say-” Ian slurred

“eh, isn’t it my guess? You forgettin’ the rules to your own game Gallagher?”

The surprise Ian registered was not from being cut off, but from hearing his last name “you remembered my name?” Ian inquired as he leaned in closer to Mickey.

“yeah, well don’t feel so special I just gotta thing for names” Mickey lied trying to hide that fact that he had read Ian’s business card about 500 times.

“Mmmm but I wanna feel special” Ian turned to Mickey and made a quick move to straddle his hips, Mickey sat under Ian completely taken aback by Ian’s sudden move he pressed his back as far into the couch as it would go trying to put some distance between them. Ian moved his hands so that they were framing Mickey’s head on the back of the couch. He leaned in a couple inches and practically growled out “don't chu wanna feel special Mick” Ian ground his hips into Mickey’s lap hoping to bring him out of his stunned silence.

Mickey inhaled a sharp breath and bit down on his lower lip. Ian was beaming with accomplishment. He started to lean in the final few inches to bring his mouth to Mickey’s when Mickey quickly jerked his head to the side at the last minute causing Ian’s nose to collide with Mickey’s cheek. Mickey made a grumbled noise as Ian’s nose made contact with his cheek and Ian slowly moved his head so that his mouth was just by Mickey’s ear and whispered, “no kissing, I get it.” Ian moved his head down and bit at Mickey’s ear lobe as he moved his hands to start working on the button of Mickeys jeans. Mickey was quick to respond and moved his head back to face Ian as he brought his hands up to undo the button on Ian’s pants. Ian ground his hips down into Mickey’s lap again, this time he was met by Mickey’s hips thrusting upward. Ian groaned in response as he got Mickey’s button undone.

“Condom?” Ian asked Mickey breathlessly.

“Bedroom” Mickey managed to grumble out as he met Ian’s stare.

Ian quickly stood up from Mickey’s lap before Mickey had gotten his button undone and started walking backwards in the general direction of Mickey’s bedroom undoing the rest of the buttons on his dress shirt a he went. Mickey sat for a moment watching Ian, his tongue glided over his bottom lip as Ian approached the last few buttons on his shirt. He saw the dark shading of a tattoo across Ian’s right side and his eyebrows quirked in interest. Mickey hurriedly stood and yanked his tee over his head, tossing it back to the couch and rushing over to Ian just as he got to the bedroom door.

Mickey grabbed at the waistband of Ian’s pants as Ian stumbled through the half open bedroom door. His fingers struggled for another couple of seconds, his chest just a few inches from Ian’s, he could feel Ian’s breath on the side of his neck as the red head starred down at Mickey’s fumbling fingers.

“Lemme do it” Ian breathed.

Mickey nodded his head as he avoided meeting Ian’s eyes, he shoved off his own pants quickly then watched as Ian unsteadily stepped out of his pants legs. Ian’s second foot caught as he pulled it out and his arms flailed in an attempt to regain his balance. Mickey tried to stop the inevitable by pulling on Ian’s arm, Ian over compensated by leaning too far in Mickey’s direction and they both went falling onto the bed. Mickey groaned as Ian crashed on top. Ian giggled as he straddled Mickey’s hips.

“I don’t think we could do that again if we tried” he continued breathlessly as he shimmed down Mickey and hooked his thumbs under the waistband of the mechanic’s boxers.

Mickey squirmed and bit down on his bottom lip and he felt Ian’s hot breath travel down his torso, his dick was rock hard and twitched when Ian began pulling down his boxers. Ian threw Mickey’s boxers across the room as he licked the underside of Mickey’s cock. Mickey groaned and threw his head back; Ian smirked before swirling his tongue around Mickey’s leaking head.

“Ffuuuuck” Mickey groaned out.

“We’ll get there” Ian chuckled.

“Wise asssssssss” Mickey drew out as Ian took him into his mouth and began bobbing up and down. Mickey balled up his fists in the sheets and his hips hitched forward trying to delve himself further into Ian’s warmth.

Ian smiled around the gruff man’s cock, he slowly grazed his teeth over the sensitive flesh and watched as the brunette continued to grunt and squirm under him. Mickey began to grasp and pull at the fire red strands atop Ian’s head, as Ian buried his nose in Mickey’s dark pubes and swallowed, deep throating Mickey’s throbbing member. Ian’s dick was becoming painfully hard and he reached into his boxers and began to palm himself.

Mickey insides began to tighten; he knew it wouldn’t be long before Ian made him cum. He started tapping rapidly on Ian’s arm resting across his stomach.

“eh, eh, eh, eh man, hold up.”

Ian let Mickey’s cock fall from his mouth with a pop and wiped the corners of his mouth with the thumb and fore finger of his other hand. Mickey pushed himself up on this elbows and twisted to reach inside the drawer of the bedside table. He fumbled around blindly for a couple of seconds before grasping the foil packet he was looking for. He tossed it at Ian raising his eyebrows with a devilish smirk. Ian got the hint and stood quickly shoving off his boxers and kneeling on the bed. Mickey quickly flipped over on all fours.

“Lube?” Ian questioned.

“Drawer” Mickey nodded directionally to the drawer as he peered over his shoulder back at Ian. He took in the tall man’s features, his chiseled chest and defined abs glistened with a thin layer of sweat. Ian grabbed hold of the lube and popped the cap, Mickey bit down on his lip in anticipation. Ian slicked up a couple of his fingers and leaned over Mickey’s back getting close to Mickey’s ear as his hard on pushed into the crack of Mickey’s ass.

“You ready?”

Mickey pushed back onto Ian’s dick as encouragement.

“mmmm” Ian groaned. He trailed his finger up Mickey’s crack and slowly pushed at Mickey’s puckered hole with his slicked up finger. Mickey grunted and dropped his head as Ian pushed his finger all the way in. He fingered Mickey slowly and as soon as he felt Mickey push back onto his finger he pushed in a second. Mickey moaned and writhed under him as Ian slowly stretched him. It only took about another minute of prepping before Mickey shot his head up and growled over his shoulder.

“Get on me Gallagher.”

Ian didn’t need to be told twice. He tore open the foil packet with his teeth and pumped his own cock a couple of times. He rolled on the rubber and lubed up. He grabbed Mickey’s hip to steady himself and pushed in slowly.

“Shiiiiit” Mickey moaned breathlessly.

Ian stopped and let Mickey adjust. Mickey’s body burned with both pleasure and pain as Ian filled him. He took the moment Ian gave him and inhaled deeply trying to relax. Mickey pushed back onto Ian’s throbbing member and Ian got the point. He pulled out almost completely before slamming into the hilt. Mickey’s threw his head back and groaned loudly. Ian smirked hearing the mechanic moan and picked up his vigorous pace. Mickey reached under himself and stroked his leaking cock in rhythm with Ian’s thrusts. Mickey listened as Ian grunted behind him with each thrust. He groaned loudly and clenched around Ian as he came. Ian was quick to follow, he moaned with satisfaction as he collapsed on Mickey’s back. Mickey grunted as Ian pulled out, he shifted his weight and reached back to grab a smoke from his bedside pack, he held out the pack to Ian who had flopped down onto his back beside Mickey. Ian took one and leaned in as Mickey sparked the lighter. They both took a long inhale on their cigarettes, Ian on his back and Mickey on his stomach as they lay in a tangle of dark sheets.

“That was …” Ian broke off as he took another deep inhale from his cig.

“yeah, it was” Mickey agreed as he exhaled smoke from his nostrils.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not happy with this chapter, but I'm like that, I tend to over analyze.
> 
> Thank you to all those who have given this story their time. I really appreciate all the love.
> 
> Feel free to comment with your thoughts on this chapter, I felt a bit all over the place when writing it. There were parts I really loved and parts that I am still not impressed with.


	4. That Was Fuckin' Hot

Mickey was pulled out of his void-less sleep by a dull noise. He groaned as he came to and realized that there was a tangled mess of limbs slumped across his lower half. He lifted his head off the pillow and propped himself up on his elbows, his head swirled as his hangover came to full force. He looked down at the tangled mess on top of him; the redhead was passed out face down diagonally across his body. His legs were the only part of him covered by the sheet. Mickey scanned his eyes over the tall man admiring his perfectly toned ass; he continued up his body watching his back muscles contract and release under the steady cadence of his breathing. The dull noise had stopped before Mickey could decipher what it was. He was staring at the constellations of freckles across the back of Ian’s shoulder’s when his eyes were drawn to the dark mark on Ian’s side, it was the side furthest from his so he could only really see the dark edge. He started to push himself up on to his hands to try and get a better look at the tattoo without disturbing the sleeping lump when he heard the dull noise again. He was awake enough to realize that it was a phone vibrating from across the room. He shifted underneath Ian trying to shuffle out of bed without waking him, he had gotten one leg out from under Ian and on to the floor when the redhead moaned and rolled off him.

“Fuuuuck” Ian moaned again as he laid on his back and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes.

“You too, huh?” Mickey moaned as he sat on the edge of the bed, he turned back and glanced over his shoulder admiring the view, Ian, laid out across the bed on his back, stark naked. Mickey stood and scanned the room looking for his pants when he tripped and stumbled over something. “son-of-a-BITCH!” Mickey yelled as he lent down to grab his foot. Ian propped himself up curious as to what troubled the brunette. Mickey stood back up holding an empty bottle of Jack in his hand and staring at it questioningly. He looked back at Ian maintaining the questioning expression.

“I guess that explains why I’m so hungover” Mickey tossed the empty bottle onto the bed and opened his dresser, quickly shoving on a fresh pair of boxers.

“Mmmm” Ian moaned in agreement “I think … I think we did body shots” Ian said as he moved to the end of the bed.

Mickey turned back to look at Ian with a surprised expression after he had dug his phone out from his pants pocket. Ian broke the gaze as he rubbed the back of his head. Mickey could see the faint script of another tattoo along his left bicep but he was too far away to read it.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to stay man” Ian said self-consciously as he searched for his own boxers.

Just as Mickey was about to respond to Ian his phone started buzzing, he looked down to see who had been calling him and answered Ian. “Nah, don’t worry about it man, look I gotta take this” he moved to grab his hoodie; he shrugged it on as he answered the call and headed toward the small balcony off his bedroom.

“Evan!? What’s goin’ on? You alright?”

Ian watched as Mickey shut the balcony door and dug out a cigarette from the pocket of his hoodie. Ian made his way across the hall to the bathroom to relieve his bursting bladder. He took a minute to snoop in Mickey’s bathroom before going back to the bedroom to retrieve his clothes. He opened up the mirrored medicine cabinet and poked around. There was nothing out of the ordinary to peak his interest, just the standard: condoms, toothbrush, razor, acetaminophen and ibuprofen. When Ian returned to the bedroom to get his clothes his eyes were drawn to Mickey on the balcony. A strange feeling overtook Ian as he watched him on the phone, a little hint of jealously. Mickey looked like a completely different person, whoever he was talking to had him completely at ease, laughing and smiling. Ian wanted to be the person on the other line that Mickey was so free and open with. It dawned on Ian as he was pulling on his pants, the person on the other line must be a boyfriend; Evan must be his boyfriend. Ian tried to shake the dirty feeling of being the other man, _he was under no false assumptions, this was just a hook up;_ Ian told himself. Mickey walked backed into the bedroom.

“Oh, you think so? Well we’ll see about that. Alright, so I’ll see ya on Saturday, yeah? Yeah, I’ll pick you up. See ya.” Mickey hung up as Ian had finished buttoning his shirt.

Ian stared at Mickey through the mirror he was using. He sucked in a breath as he admired the stark contrast of the dark open hoodie against the mechanic’s milky white skin. Mickey’s boxers hung low on his hips; Ian eyed Mickey up and down and couldn’t help but smirk at the purple bruises that were beginning to darken on the shorter man’s hip and just above his collar bone at the base of his neck.

“You want coffee?” Mickey asked as he brushed passed Ian into the hallway on his way to the kitchen.

“Nah, you know what, I gotta get back to my car and then my condo, get a few things before I go to work.”

Mickey nodded as he filled the coffee filter. Ian grabbed his blazer off the side of the sofa and walked to meet Mickey in the kitchen. They both gave each other nervous, knowing smiles, Ian moved toward the door and Mickey followed behind. Before Ian reached for the door handle he turned to face Mickey. Mickey’s gaze faltered when Ian turned around with a wide smile.

“I had a good time” Ian said bluntly.

Mickey nodded as he tried to avoid eye contact.

“Okay, I should go or I’m gonna be late for work” Ian exasperated as he stepped into the hallway, they stood a few feet from each other awkwardly.

“Yeah, I’ll see ya” Mickey waved hurriedly from the doorway, then brought his thumb to brush across his bottom lip.

Ian’s smile grew as he watched the mechanic shift with unease. “Will you?” Ian asked with both curiosity and sarcasm.

“When your car craps out on you again, smart ass.”

“Ahhh. Right. See ya then” Ian turned and headed toward the crappy elevator at the end of the hall.

“Later, firecrotch” Mickey grumbled.

Ian turned quickly, raised his eyebrows and bit his lip as he kept walking backwards to the elevator. He watched as Mickey turned and shut the door to his apartment. He fought the urge to rush back to Mickey’s door, to grab his dark hair, to feel his body against his own, to push inside him and hear him moan.

“Fuck” Ian whispered as he stood in the elevator, he reached down and adjusted his now semi-hard cock.

Mickey closed the door with a huff and collapsed back to lean on the door. He smirked wide imagining the dumb struck look on the redhead’s face. He was pulled out of his reverie by someone banging on his door. Mickey ignored the door with a large smile on his face, _make him wait_ , he went back into the kitchen and poured himself a coffee. Before his cup was barely half full the banging happened again, harder this time, practically shaking on its hinges.

“yo, calm the fuck down or your gonna owe me a new door” Mickey barked as he walked back to the door. He opened it and was almost knocked over by the blur of untamed black hair pushing past him.

“tssss, what the fuck Mandy?” Mickey hissed as his coffee spilled over his hand.

“I need your couch for a few days” Mandy said emotionless as she tossed her bag onto the lumpy green object, she curled up with her back to Mickey.

Mickey kept silent as he walked to the kitchen and as if on instinct filled a second cup of coffee and walked over to the couch. He sat down on the coffee table across from the balled up heap that was his sister. He just held the coffee in front of her face which she had buried in the cushion.

“You gonna tell me what this is about?”

“NO!” Mandy’s muffled bark came out.

“Mandy!” Mickey’s tone was serious and unwavering. It wasn’t a question and Mandy knew it. She sat up slowly letting her hair cover her face. She took the coffee from Mickey’s hand and gazed down into the cup. Mickey reached out and grabbed her chin, forcefully tilting her head up to face him. Her lip was split, he left eye was almost swollen shut and the redness of the fresh bruise was beginning to darken. The two gashes around the eye were raw but had stopped bleeding.

“Who?” Mickey grumbled.

Mandy pulled her chin out of his hand and took a sip of her coffee. She looked up from the cup and stared at Mickey, saying everything but not saying anything.

“He’s a fucking dead man” Mickey spit.

“If I had a nickel –“ Mandy began.

“Don’t fuckin’ start. I’ve said you can stay here, you’re the one that keeps going back to that house of horrors” Mickey cut her off.

“I ain’t a charity case, besides his benders only last a few days”

“Yeah and in a couple of weeks this conversation is gonna seem real familiar. Jesus Christ Mandy, why you wanna live that life?”

“Just drop it okay? I’ll figure shit out. I don’t need my big … well, little big brother to do it for me.” Mandy smirked at Mickey and he couldn’t help but smirk back.

“Bitch” He said playfully. Mickey tilted his head back and drained the last of his coffee, his half zipped hoodie slipped to reveal the large purple hickey at his collarbone. Mandy’s eyes immediately caught on the mark.

“You did get laid you lying slut!” she practically yelled as she leaned forward and grabbed onto his hoodie to get a closer look. Mickey jerked back as Mandy grabbed onto him.

“Get off” Mickey gruffed as he swatted at her hand and stood up. He stalked to the kitchen to refill his coffee.

Mandy turned to lean over the back of the couch watching Mickey walk away. “uaahhhhh” Mandy gasped dramatically “is it someone I know? That’s why you won’t tell me, right?”

“Why are we still doin’ this?” Mickey moaned under his breath as he threw his head back in exasperation.

“Ugh, fine you’re no fun.”

Mickey sat down beside his sister on the couch and fumbled to get a cigarette out of his pocket. He took a long drag and before he could pull it back out of his mouth to exhale, Mandy had yanked it from him and was placing it between her lips. Mickey just stared at her, his eyebrows creeping toward his hairline, Mandy looked back at him with a shit eating grin.

“mhm” Mandy moaned as he took a drag, she exhaled and handed the cigarette back to Mickey. “You should have seen the guy getting off the elevator when I got here, he was _clearly_ doing the walk of shame, but he must have been crazy drunk because he was way too pretty to be from this shithole.”

Mickey felt his stomach drop; he knew Mandy must have been talking about Ian because the time between Ian leaving and Mandy banging on his door was only a couple of minutes. He’d already been telling himself than Ian was one of those ‘ _way too good for you_ ’ fucks, and although Mandy had no idea that it was Mickey who Ian had hooked up with, hearing her say that he was slumming it just fortified his feelings. He took another drag on the cigarette and composed himself. “Good for him” Mickey deadpanned.

“I’d take you up on your offer if I knew _he_ lived here, with his red hair and his broad shoulders and his slick clothes, mmmm”

“You fuckin’ horn dog.”

“How is it that your grumpy ass is getting’ laid and I’m not.”

Mickey fought the smirk creeping up onto his face as he pictured Ian straddling his hips on the exact same spot last night and the way he looked when he deep throated Mickey. Mickey stood and turned away from Mandy to hide the blush on his cheeks.

“I’m gonna take a shower.”

“Yeah you do that, I think I’m getting’ a buzz just off the smell of you. Seriously, what did you do bathe in a bottle Jack?”

Mickey flipped her the bird over his shoulder as he turned down the small hallway towards the bathroom.

* * *

 

Mickey had gone to work after showering for almost an hour. He’d never been this hung up about a fuck before. He’d jacked off thinking of Ian wrapped around his cock, pressed up against him, ramming him from behind. When he finally showed up Danny had shot him a questioning glance.

“Sorry man, Mandy issues”

“ ‘salright, not like I can actually dock you with how early you showed up yesterday.”

They had gone about their day as normal; there was quite a bit of traffic in and out of the garage that day so Mickey hadn’t even realised when six o’clock had rolled around. He was in the back, where he’d been most of the day, buried up to his elbows under the hood of a ’06 Grand Cherokee when Danny had tapped on the side of the car alerting Mickey to his presence.

“I swear you are tryin’ to make me look like one of those lazy ass bosses.”

“You _are_ one of those lazy ass bosses” Mickey quipped as he wiped his hands on a rag and pointed at Danny’s slight beer belly. “What are you doin’ back here?”

“Eh, I own the fuckin’ place I can go where I like.”

Mickey held up his hands in mock surrender. “Alright then Mr. Owner, why don’t you roll up your sleeves and help me finish this up.”

“ 'Cause it’s six and I’m going home.”

“No shit, it’s six” Mickey fumbled around in his pockets for his cell to double check the time.

“You think Nathan and Andy just went for a stroll” Danny gestured his hand around the now empty garage.

“I don’t really take much notice of them either way.”

“Well don’t stay too late man. Go out, have a drink, if these Mandy issues are the regularly scheduled Mandy issues, I know she could use it.”

Mickey just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly in response as Danny headed back into the office; he turned back to the Jeep and kept working.

* * *

 

“Is it weird that I had this illusion that you only worked on my car.”

Mickey snaked his head out from under the hood of the Jeep to see Ian leaning against the frame of the open bay door. His heart rate quickened as he looked at the tall man in his perfectly tailored slim cut grey suit and purple dress shirt. He licked his lips as he admired how the ginger’s hair caught in the evening light and scanned the empty garage nervously.

“What are you doin’ here?” Mickey questioned as he stood and dropped the hood of the car. “Your shitbox out of commission already?"

“Haha, no left it at home. Figured I can take the L till I can afford something better.”

“Soooo you decided to come to a mechanic in the Southside without a car that needs fixin’“ Mickey asked sarcastically as he moved out from the front of the car and Ian had slowly made his way to stand a few feet from Mickey.

“Well … I had other ideas for a certain Southside mechanic” Ian said seductively as he ran his had along the side of the car.

Mickey turned to look at Ian at bit stunned, his heart started to race faster and he could feel his skin starting to heat up as a blush crept over him.

“mhm I’m sure you did, but unless those plans included a grungy garage your _plans_ ain’t happening.”

Ian looked at him slightly confused.

“My place is a no go. Family problems.” Mickey said bluntly.

Ian nodded in understanding as Mickey brushed past him to close the open bay door; he knew that even if he asked he wasn’t going to get more information than that. Ian sucked in a breath silently and bit his lip as Mickey passed him, he could smell Mickey’s sweaty musk and could feel his own dick beginning to harden as he watched the mechanic secure the lock on the door.

Ian moved to stand behind Mickey before the brunette could turn around; Mickey froze as the taller man leaned against his back and dropped his head to his ear.

“I don’t mind a little grunge if you don’t” Ian practically purred.

Mickey bit down hard on his bottom lip and attempted to slow his racing heart. His dick immediately hardened as Ian leaned up against him, a stifled moan escaped Mickey’s lips as Ian rubbed his hands down the front of Mickey’s thighs. Ian grabbed onto the front pockets of Mickey’s greasy coveralls and yanked him around forcefully and pushed him back into the bay door.

“Umph” Mickey grunted as the ginger began frantically undoing the buttons on Mickey’s uniform.

Mickey leaned against the bay door with his hands resting awkwardly by his sides. He never let someone push him around like this before, he was usually in control, he’d call the shots. Letting Ian take charge was turning him on more than ever, he was fully erect before Ian had even touched his cock.

Standing up after undoing the last of Mickey’s buttons, Ian began to pull the coveralls off the mechanic’s shoulders. Mickey brought his hands up from the awkward place at his sides and began to take the worn out cloth off himself. Ian then switched his focus and shucked off his own jacket, he stepped to the side and gently laid it on the work table. He stepped back in front of Mickey as he undid the top buttons from his dress shirt. Mickey had a strange look on his face as he watched Ian being careful with his clothes.

As if knowing what Mickey was thinking, he answered Mickey’s questioning glance bluntly “this suit cost more than my rent.” Ian dropped to his knees, quickly attacking Mickey’s belt and shoving his pants down to his ankles. As Ian was working Mickey’s boxers away from his hips, Mickey couldn’t help but tease the careful redhead.

“Pffft, fuckin’ label queen, huh. Thought you said you didn’t mind the grunge.”

Ian coked an eyebrow as he looked up at the shorter man, he took Mickey almost fully into his mouth and sucked him hard for a brief moment before pulling off, “you complainin’?” he teased.

“Mmmph. nuh uhhhh” Mickey moaned as he grabbed a handful of copper strands at the back of Ian’s head and pushed the warmth of his mouth back towards his own throbbing member. Ian grabbed the base of Mickey’s cock with a gentle squeeze, he began to pump Mickey’s cock with long, slow strokes as the mechanic writhed and moaned above him. He licked at Mickey’s leaking slit, slathering the salty precum all over the head before taking him back into his mouth fully. Mickey’s breathing was heavy and loud; he licked his lips and threw his head back against the door as he tried to pull Ian’s warmth down further. Ian could feel the gruff man’s impatience as the grip on the back of his head tightened. He relaxed his jaw and pushed forward burying his nose into Mickey’s dark pubes and swallowing. Mickey let out a loud moan as the tight warmth of Ian’s throat surrounded him. Ian let out a muffled choke after a few seconds and pulled back a little, not letting Mickey fall from his mouth. He brought his hand back to the base of Mickey’s cock and began to jerk and suck the brunette in tandem.

Mickey brought his free hand up and bit down on his fist in an attempt to stifle his moans. His eyes rolled and his balls began to tighten as Ian brought him closer to the edge.

“Ahhhh, fuuuckkk Gallagherrrrr” Mickey took a sharp inhale “I’m gonna cum.” When Mickey didn’t feel Ian letting up, he dropped his gaze to the kneeling redhead. “Yo, I’m gonna fuckin’, ahhhhhh, I’m gonna cum” he stuttered hurriedly as he tried to hold off his climax. Ian didn’t let up; in fact he tightened his grip as he continued to pump the older man and smirked around Mickey’s cock as he continued to suck.

It was only a few more seconds before Mickey let out a loud groan and Ian felt the hot, salty liquid hit the back of his throat. He milked the mechanic for all he was worth before standing and wiping the corners of his mouth with his thumb and forefinger.

“That was. Ummm.” Mickey fumbled to form a coherent sentence as he inhaled deeply to try to slow his racing heart.

Ian smiled as he walked over to his suit jacket and pulled a pack of smokes from the pocket. He lit up and took a long drag, then stepped to lean against the door beside Mickey offering him the cigarette.

“That was fuckin’ hot” Ian stated as he exhaled.

“Mmm hmm” Mickey moaned as he too took a long drag from the cigarette.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all those that have left comments, left kudos or just read and enjoyed this story.
> 
> I am by no means a writer, in fact if those closest to me knew that I was writing a mulit-chapter story in my free time, they would probably die of shock because of how much I say I hate to write.
> 
> But even though it takes me a long ass time to write these chapters and most of the time its a bit painful, there is just something about Ian and Mickey that keeps bringing me back to stare at that flashing cursor on a word doc. 
> 
> Enjoy! :)


	5. Uncharted Waters

Mickey sat on the floor of Danny’s office, leaning against the desk, chest rising and falling heavily as he took a long inhale from his usual post sex cigarette. They’d moved into the office after the first round in the garage; the thin industrial carpet of the office was a little nicer than the oil stained cement of the garage and Ian didn’t need to worry about staining his suit.

“Won’t your boss notice that his office smells like cigarettes?” Ian asked, lying on the floor on his back as he interlocked his fingers and put his hands behind his head

Mickey shrugged, “he’ll probably love it” he said bluntly.

Ian turned his head and gave Mickey a questioning look. Mickey took another deep pull from his cig before responding.

“Danny’s wife made him quit when they had their kid a few months ago. It’s funny how much he misses them.” Mickey glanced down at Ian’s stretched out figure, he brought his eyes back up to Ian’s bicep tattoo and squinted trying to read the small, faint script.

“So two, huh?” Mickey threw out.

“Two what?”

“Your tats man. Unless you got one hidden in someplace I ain’t seen.”

“Oh” Ian chuckled as he subconsciously ran his left hand over the one on the inside of his arm. “Yeah, just two.”

“What’s it say?” Mickey questioned as he stubbed out his cigarette on an empty can in the trash and tossed the butt inside.

“ _We were so the same, but I promise to be different._ ” Ian spoke, his tone low.

“Shit. Someone die or somethin’?” Mickey huffed in an attempt to lighten the suddenly somber mood.

“Actually, yeah” Ian rolled onto his side to face Mickey.

Mickey tensed, feeling that he overstepped “Oh fuck. I didn’t mean – “

“Nah. S’alright. It’s for my mom, she OD’d last year. Well, I say mom but she was probably the farthest thing from one. But we were the most alike. She was the one person that could read me like a book. I know it sounds really heavy but it’s really just a reminder for me not to fuck up.”

Mickey let out a breath, releasing some of the tension he was holding and shifted his weight as he stood up from the floor.

“Well, welcome to the club” Mickey gruffed out after a few moments of silence as he pulled on his boxers and Ian played with a piece of loose carpet lint in front of him.

“What club?” Ian asked genuinely as he glanced up at Mickey from the floor

“The: my mom’s dead ‘cause she OD’d club” Mickey immediately cringed and regretted those words ever leaving his mouth. It had been a knee jerk reaction, a reflex; things get personal and Mickey gets cold and sarcastic. He didn’t know how to deal with feelings, the only feeling that the Milkoviches fully understand is pain. He turned his back to Ian and waited for the attack. He waited for Ian to scold him and tell him how much of an insensitive prick he was, but what he heard instead took him completely by surprise. A laugh. Just a small chuckle as Ian stood behind him but it was enough to stop Mickey’s own internal insults.

“You know, chances are somewhere, in some church basement there _is_ actually a dead mother’s club” Ian chuckled again as he pulled on his own boxers.

“Hah. Yeah. Probably. Full of rich Northside pricks that can’t think of anything else to bitch about.”

“Ohh, the drama” Ian chuckled sarcastically as he pulled up his slacks watching Mickey pull on his t-shirt.

“What about the pigeon? What’s the story with that one?” Mickey chided Ian.

Ian smirked as he glanced down at his right side, “well I’ll spare you another sad, depressing story and just tell you I was high out of my mind when I got the _eagle_.”

“ ‘scuse me” Mickey nodded as he held up his hand. He was intrigued by the fact that both Ian’s tattoos had such personal meaning to him, whereas his own was merely just for show.

“So, this thing we’re doin’” Ian started as he finished the buttons on his dress shirt.

“What? Fuckin’ in my boss’s office” Mickey stated sarcastically.

“No” Ian stood and grabbed his tie off the floor, “well, yeah actually. I mean don’t get me wrong this is fun” Ian motioned between him and Mickey “but I just can’t be the other man again.”

He looked up at Ian quizzically, “huh?”

“I promised myself that I wouldn’t do the sneaking around thing again, that I wouldn’t be someone’s mistress.”

“What the fuck are you talkin’ about? Mistress?”

“Mick, look” Ian looked at him earnestly “relationships can be shit, I get it. But I saw how much you care about Evan. I’m not gonna be a scape goat – “

“Woah, how the _fuck_ do you know about Evan?” Mickey’s utter confusion as to what Ian was talking about completely dropped away and his protection barriers shot up at the mention of Evan.

“I, uhhh, overheard you making plans for the weekend this morning. But don’t worry, I’m not mad. I never expected this to be anything other than a hook-up. Well, maybe I was hoping it could be more, otherwise I wouldn’t be here - ”

Mickey listened to the redhead ramble as he tried to explain himself. Although there was still a part of him that was pissed that Ian knew about Evan, he grinned to himself as he listened to Ian’s story. He took pity on him and cut him off.

“Eh, slow the fuck down firecrotch.” He smirked as he watched Ian try to eat his words as he cut him off mid-sentence. “First off, Evan is not my … he’s … Its complicated, but it’s not what you think” Mickey brushed his thumb nervously over his bottom lip as he tried to find the right words. “Second, _if_ I was seeing someone do you really think that I would have brought you back to my place?”

Mickey’s questions were mostly rhetorical but Ian needed more. He wanted to know more about the mysterious older man, wanted to know more about his life, wanted to somehow be a part of that life. It had only been a day but Ian was drawn to him.

“Wouldn’t have been the first time” Ian chirped, knowing he was probably poking an angry bear.

“Fuckin’ dramatic” Mickey grumbled under his breath as he pushed past Ian with annoyance and walked into the lobby. Mickey fought against his urge to fight, normally he wouldn’t have hesitated to smack someone around that dared to judge him. But there was something about Ian, when he looked at the redhead he couldn’t bring his fist to connect. He turned to see Ian slowly follow out of the office.

“You wanna an out, there’s the door” Mickey spat as he flung his arm directionally to the front door.

Ian pursed his lips and nodded slightly “mm’kay. I’ll go” he walked past Mickey to the door. He turned back before leaving “I’ll give you some space, but I think we both know that me and you, we’re not done” Ian smirked and walked out the door before Mickey could bite back a response.

Mickey stood still, a million thoughts rushing through his mind as he tried to process how this redheaded one night stand had crept through his well-constructed barriers. He tried to make sense of the thoughts as he stalked home.

* * *

 

Mickey must have sucked down a record number of cigarettes on the trek back to his apartment. He inhaled the nicotine deep into his lungs hoping that somehow it would help him understand Ian’s last statement that was playing over and over in his mind.

_“we’re not done.”_

He went from angry to shameful then back to angry, thinking over Ian’s confident statement. His anger had subsided to him just being pissed off by the time he crashed through his front door after stopping at the local convenience store to restock his smokes. He could hear Mandy was there before he saw her; the loud sound of gunfire coming from his living room could only mean one thing, Call of Duty. He threw his keys onto his kitchen counter as he kicked off his shoes; he grabbed two beers from the fridge before heading to slump next to Mandy on the couch.

“Yo” he said as he fell into the seat and placed the beers on the coffee table in front of him.

“Yo, where the fuck you been, I’m gettin’ my ass kicked here” Mandy scoffed without taking her eyes of the action on the screen.

“Workin’” Mickey said as nonchalantly as possible as he took a swig of his beer.

“Really? Workin’? it’s past 9.”

Mickey tried to hide his awkwardness by taking another long pull from his beer “I said I was workin’.”

Her game ended and she grabbed her beer off the table as she put down the controller and turned to face Mickey. “You say you were workin’” Mandy leaned into to him and took an overly dramatic sniff, “but you smell like sex.”

“Fuck you.”

“As much as I wish it was me getting’ laid, I’m not into that.”

Mickey let out a soft chuckle as Mandy reached back over for her controller while also managing to pull a second one from God knows where and toss it up into Mickey’s lap. She quickly started up a second game before Mickey had time to protest. There were about five minutes of silence and intense concentration before Mandy spoke again.

“So is this the same person you slept with the other night?”

“Mandy.” Mickey grumbled warningly.

“Mickey.” Mandy bit back in a mocking tone.

“Jesus. Fine. Yes it’s the same person. You happy now? Can we move on?” Mickey knew his sister was not going to let up, especially now that she’d been given a taste. Mandy had the biggest satisfied grin on her face.

“Oh brother mine. Something other than a one night stand? The sex must be good. I’m soooo jealous.” Mandy was practically moaning. Mickey listened uncomfortably as he continued to shoot with expert precision in the game. He stayed quiet as he tried not to play into Mandy’s conversational trap. There was silence for another minute before she spoke up again.

“Soooo are you like in a relationship now? Is perpetual bachelor Mickey Milkovich dating?” Her first question was honest; however she couldn’t resist goading her brother with a little dramatic sarcasm.

“What?! No! It’s just fucking. I mean, I think _they_ want it to be something more but I just … I don’t know” Mickey trailed off frustrated with his lack of ability to define what Ian may have wanted, he thought about it the whole way back to his apartment and still wasn’t 100% sure. His use of the ambiguous pronoun was pretty much reflex.

“Don’t know what Mick?” her tone got serious. Mandy had been played too many times by too many guys and she wasn’t going to let her brother become one of those douchebags. “Is the sex good?”

“Yeah, the sex is good. I don’t know because I’ve never done this before, the more than once thing; I’m in uncharted waters, I’ll probably just fuck it up.”

“Yeah, well then, grab your floaties and start swimmin’ cause if you like this girl the least you can do is give it a shot.”

They both continued to play in silence for a while after Mandy delivered her eloquent advice. There was no thanks, or acknowledgement of who was right. They were Milkoviches, they just understood.

Mickey was the one to break the silence this time as their game came to an end, “Seein’ Evan tomorrow.”

“I know, he told me.”

“It’s so weird that you talk to him more than I do.”

“s’not weird. He just likes me better” Mandy said honestly, a smirk starting to form at the corners of her mouth.

Mickey rolled his eyes at his sister and the night continued on with small talk, COD and beer into the wee hours of the morning. Mickey unhooked himself from a sleeping Mandy’s tangled legs and stumbled drunk with sleep to crash into his own bed.

* * *

 

10 o’clock Monday night rolled around. Mickey was laid out on the sofa half asleep, half watching some random movie. Mandy scurried around the room tossing her stuff into a duffle bag.

“You know, I’ve said you can stay” Mickey grumbled as his sister tried to pull a t-shirt out from under him.

“Yeah well, I can only take so many days on this lumpy ass couch, maybe if you weren’t such a cheap ass and bought something half decent I’d stay”

“You’re on it more than I am, you shell out for it” Mickey quipped matter-of-factly.

“I’m not the one with the nice cushy job and a best friend for a boss” Mandy huffed as she finally pulled the shirt free, Mickey flipped her off.

“kay, I think that’s it” Mandy huffed the bag over her shoulder and headed for the door.

“Eh, yo, make sure you have your goddamn key. I don’t need you breakin’ down my fuckin’ door next time” Mickey yelled from the couch.

“Yeah, whatever assface. I’ll see ya.”

“See ya."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long wait. Life caught up with me and between working 70 hours a week for the past few weeks and family stuff I really didn't have the energy to sit down and write something. When I finally did get some time I wrote basically a whole chapter which I had to scrap because I didn't like where the relationship was going. C'est la vie. I guess that will teach me to start writing a fic without an actual plan of what I wanted to happen. I basically just had an idea for Mickey to be a mechanic and Ian to have car trouble. I now kind of have certain points I want the story to hit, I'm just hoping that I can meet them.
> 
> Thanks for all the amazing comments and kudos. It honestly warms my cynical, sarcastic heart.


	6. Creature of Habit

A faint noise awoke Mickey; he couldn’t remember when he’d fallen asleep on the couch. He rubbed at his stiff neck groggily as he reached for his phone with his opposite hand to check the time.

**1:41 am**

He moaned inwardly as he sat up and reached for his pack of smokes. He lit one up as he mindlessly gazed at the infomercial playing on his TV. He was startled by the half knocking, half scratching sound coming from his front door. The noise Mickey figured had woken him in the first place.

“The fuck is that?” Mickey mumbled to himself as his cigarette hung from his lips.

The knocking became louder and more consistent, as Mickey stood up from the couch and sauntered toward his front door.

“Alright. Alright. I’m coming, Jesus!” Mickey spat. “I swear to fuckin’ god Mandy, I’m gonna shove your fuckin’ key down your Goddamned throat so you don’t forg-.” Mickey stopped mid threat as he wrenched the door open to be met by a goofily grinning redhead leaning against his door frame.

“Oops, he’s pissed” Ian slurred as he swayed unsteadily on his feet.

“Gallagher? What the hell are you doing here?” Mickey whispered loudly as he grabbed Ian’s arm in an attempt to steady the taller man.

“I’m surrrprising you” Ian attempted to drop his tone to a similar loud whisper “ssssurprise!” Ian swayed forward and brought his hand up to rest on the wall.

“You’re wasted” Mickey said as he glanced up and down his hallway nervously, making sure no one was watching and then dragging Ian inside the apartment and closing the door quickly.

“m’not wasted, I jus’have a buzz” Ian slumped back against the entryway wall with a dopey smile.

“Yeah. Okay. I think your definition of buzz needs re-adjustin’” Mickey took his steadying hand off Ian and walked into the kitchen behind him, he came back about a minute later with a piece of bread and a glass of water, having tossed his cigarette into the sink. “Here eat this, might sober you up a little.”

“Mmmm s’gourmet, you shouldn’t have.”

“Shut up and eat, smart ass.”

Ian giggled as he took the bread from Mickey and took a bite.

“How did you even get in the building? I didn’t buzz you in.” Mickey asked genuinely as he handed Ian the glass of water.

Ian giggled again around the rim of the glass, “Mrs. Vanderman doesn’t like me very much.”

“Who the fuck is Mrs. Vanderman?”

“The lady in 312. I tried s’plaining to her that it was very’portant that I surrrrprise my friend in 504, she kept saying that she couldn’t let me in ‘cause she didn’t know me, and I kept saying that I could stop by her apartment first and she could meet me but then she said – “

“You told her where I live? Jesus Ian.” Mickey cut him off exasperated.

“I didn’t say your name, jus’that you were my friend. She didn’t _actually_ let me in. I just buzzed everyone on the fourth floor until someone opened the door.”

“Grrreat” Mickey moaned as he grabbed the bride of his nose picturing his angry neighbours getting together and breaking down his door wanting Ian’s head. “What are you really doin’ here?”

Ian took the last sip of water after finishing the piece of bread, “I jus’wanted to see you” Ian flung his arms around Mickey’s neck “and to make sure you understood what I said on Friday” he growled into the shorter man’s ear as he nipped at his ear lobe.

Mickey pulled his head back to look into the younger man’s eyes, his eyebrows pulled up to his hairline as if silently asking ‘oh really?’

Ian quickly took advantage of the brunette’s questioning glance and leaned down to press his lips against Mickey’s. Their lips only met for a few seconds before Mickey yanked his head back in surprise and shrugged Ian’s arms off his shoulders. Ian’s arms dropped to his sides, one hand still gripping the plastic glass that is now empty of water. Mickey bit down on his lower lip in an attempt to hide his shocked expression.

“Sssorry, I know you said you don’t kiss but I just needed to be – “ Ian was cut off by the strong grip on the back of his neck pulling his lips back down. Dropping the plastic cup to the floor, his arms flew back up to mimic Mickey’s embrace. Ian moaned in pleasure as he embraced the force and urgency of the older man’s lips. Ian began to part his lips and felt Mickey’s mirror their movements, he drove his tongue into the mechanic’s mouth and began to touch and tease every corner with flicks and swipes.

They broke apart with a huff, and inhaled deeply as they both felt somewhat lightheaded from a lack of oxygen. Mickey stared up at the redhead with a satisfied smirk on his face; Ian opened his mouth about to give a drunken smart mouthed comment, but again was cut off by Mickey yanking the hem of his grey fitted tee over his head. Mickey dropped the soft cotton to the floor before pulling his own black wife beater over his head. Ian smiled enjoying the shirtless view in front of him, he shifted his weight but his drunkenness got the best of him and he began to slide, unbalanced, down the wall. Mickey quickly grabbed hold of Ian’s hips and pulled him forward to steady the taller man against himself. Ian huffed as his chest crashed with Mickey’s; they both met each other’s gaze again. Ian hungrily closed his mouth down on Mickey’s, they both moaned as the kiss quickly progressed to be a clashing of teeth and tongues. Mickey’s fingers fumbled at the waistband of Ian’s jeans. Without parting their lips, Mickey began to step backwards pulling Ian along with him. Ian’s fingers raked through the shorter man’s hair, he gripped a handful tightly pulling Mickey’s head back. Mickey panted heavily as their mouths broke apart; Ian grazed his teeth down Mickey’s neck as he pushed him forcefully through the doorway of the bedroom. The mechanic groaned as the ginger dragged his hands down Mickey’s back. The mechanic spun, pulling Ian around. He pushed the freckled man and watched as he fell and bounced on the mattress. Ian couldn’t fight the giggle that escaped his lips, and propped himself up on his elbows. He watched hungrily as the older man quickly removed his track pants and moved to stand at Ian’s legs hung over the side of the bed. He leaned over Ian placing his hands on either side of the laid out man’s torso, Ian pushed up higher on his elbows to try and bring their lips together, Mickey smirked and moved his hand to Ian’s chest and pushed him back down.

“Nuh uh” he pulled off Ian’s jeans and leaned back up to growl in his ear, “we do this my way.”

Ian drunkenly giggled again and bit down on his lip as Mickey pulled off his boxers and grabbed the shaft of his cock. Mickey nestled himself between Ian’s legs, he stroked his dick slowly a few times, making sure each stroke covered Ian’s full length. The brunette dropped his head and licked at the sensitive veins along Ian’s member, he passed his thumb over the redhead’s leaking slit, using the precum as a lubricant as he continued to jerk him off. Ian groaned in frustration at Mickey’s teasing licks, he bucked his hips searching for the warmth of Mickey’s mouth. He was not disappointed. Mickey pushed the eager man’s hips back down as he took his head into his mouth, he hollowed out his cheeks and began a steady rhythm as his lips moved up and down Ian’s shaft. The mechanic’s calloused hand pumped the length that his mouth couldn’t reach, he swirled his tongue and the younger man moaned loudly and brought his hands to grip Mickey’s hair. Mickey quickly swatted the hands away as he let Ian fall from his mouth and grabbed his balls with a forceful grip. Ian gasped in surprise at the sudden change in sensation.

“My way, remember.”

Ian nodded his head quickly in agreement, eager for the grip on his balls to loosen. Mickey obliged, smirking he took Ian back into his mouth, relaxing his grip to gently rub his balls. Mickey could feel the ginger shaking beneath him as he got closer to the edge, his own cock leaking steadily as it stood fully erect, rubbing against the edge of the mattress. He pulled off with a pop and crawled up on to the bed straddling the redhead’s hips; Mickey sat back and ground his hips; Ian’s moist cock pressed into his crack. Mickey bit down on his lip and quirked an eyebrow as a blissed out Gallagher stared back at him. Mickey leaned over reaching for the night stand at the opposite end of the bed; Ian seized the moment and quickly flipped the older man onto his back. Mickey chuckled as he was taken by surprise, but the laugh turned to a groan when the redhead began to grind his hips against the mechanic’s. Ian’s long arm easily reached the bedside drawer and grasped what Mickey had been reaching for as he sucked on the bottom lip of the man under him, the bottle of lube and sleeve of condoms. He grazed his teeth across the full lips and slowly moved his way down the pale man’s body nipping and kissing at random across Mickey’s chest relishing in the muffled groans coming from the man beneath him. Ian moved lower and ran his tongue up the underside of Mickey’s leaking cock.

“Fuuuuuck” Mickey stuttered as he grasped the sheets under him.

“God, that is one of the biggest turn ons” Ian smirked up from between Mickey’s legs as he popped the top on the tube on lube and coated his index finger.

“What!?” Mickey asked breathlessly as Ian teasingly took in his length fully and released it slowly.

“The way you say fuck” Ian mumbles as he nipped at the inside of Mickey’s thigh.

“Oh yeah, well fuuuuu … mmmmm” Mickey groaned loudly and Ian shoved a finger in his ass with no warning.

The redhead couldn’t help but chuckle softly as he watched the older man trying to contain his surprise. He took Mickey’s member back into his warm mouth as he fingered the brunette’s hole. Mickey’s moans turned into guttural grunts as Ian slipped a second finger in, his hands gripped hard into the ginger strands. Ian scissored his fingers as he deep throated mickey, burying his nose in his dark pubes. Mickey yanked on Ian’s hair.

“Arrrgh” Ian gasped as he pulled off Mickey’s swollen cock.

Mickey pulled Ian’s hair hard again; Ian pulled out his fingers and crawled back up to meet Mickey’s face.

“Get on me” The older man growled into Ian’s ear.

“Mmmm … so bosy” Ian drawled sarcastically as he knelt on the bed and ripped one of the condoms off the sleeve.

Mickey flipped over onto his knees and elbows. Ian quickly rolled the condom on and spread some lube on his member with a few brief strokes. He positioned himself behind Mickey and started to push in.

Mickey grunted at the feeling. Ian bottomed out and held Mickey steady as he gave the other man time to adjust. Mickey wasn’t patient; he started pushing back against the redhead.

“You good?” Ian asked.

“I ain’t gonna fuckin’ break Gallagher” he pushed back harder “fuckin’ move.”

Ian smirked at the mechanic’s impatience; he pulled out almost all the way before slamming back in, hard. Mickey threw his head back, engrossed with both pleasure and pain. He relished the burning sensation of Ian slamming into him, it grounded him. They grunted and groaned together as Ian gripped Mickey’s hips tightly, a grip that was sure to leave bruises. He let one hand go every few thrusts to drag his nails down the other man’s back, leaving the skin red and inflamed. He shifted on to one knee and steadied himself as he braced Mickey’s hips with the opposite thigh. The change of angle meant that with each thrust Ian was expertly brushing against Mickey’s prostate.

“Fuuuuck Gallagher” Mickey groaned into the sheets as Ian continued to assault the sensitive bundle of nerves.

Ian leaned his chest down on Mickey’s back, “yeah? Right there? You gonna cum?” he panted into the dark haired man’s ear as he reached around and began stroking him in time with his thrusts.

“Mmmmph” Mickey moaned as he bit down on his lower lip and fell over the edge cumming in Ian’s hand. Ian could feel Mickey clench around him, his thrusts became erratic inside the mechanic's impossibly tight heat. It was only another minute before he was cumming hard into the condom. He pressed his full weight into Mickey and they both collapsed, completely spent. The sound of their laboured breathing filled the room as Ian softened inside the older man. He pulled out and rolled off the brunette, once he managed to get his breathing under control he sat up against the head board and tossed the condom to the floor. Somehow he knew that Mickey wouldn’t care. Mickey rolled onto his back and placed one arm behind his head.

“Can you get me a smoke?” He nodded his head directionally to the night stand as he looked up at Ian.

Ian smirked as he rummaged through the drawer; he pulled a cigarette from the pack. “Creature of habit aren’t you?” Ian joked as he put the cig between his own lips, lit it and took a long inhale before passing it to Mickey.

“Huh?” The dark-haired man questioned as he too inhaled the nicotine deeply.            

The redhead smiled to himself as he thought about how often Mickey lit up after a satisfying round of sex. “Nothin’.” Something Mickey himself probably didn’t realize.

“You’re a weird one Gallagher” Mickey breathed with an exhale of smoke.

Ian smiled as he shuffled down the headboard and rolled on top of the other man, beaming down at him. “Yeah, but you like it.”

Mickey broke their eye contact nervously, and Ian’s smile grew wider. The redhead dropped his mouth quickly onto Mickey’s. The shorter man moaned with surprise but kissed him back. Ian pulled away and snatched the cigarette from Mickey’s hand; he took a long pull keeping eye contact with the brunette. Mickey watched him, his eyebrows raised. Ian stubbed out the smoke in the ashtray on the bedside table and glanced back at down at the mechanic.

“You good to go again, or …” Ian trailed off.

Mickey eyebrows rose higher, he glanced down his chest at his semi hard cock pressed against Ian’s thigh. “What do you think?” he mumbled rhetorically.

Ian chuckled as he crashed his lips back down onto the older man’s. They quickly became a groaning bundle of sweaty limbs as they went for round two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well look at me being all quick with another chapter. 
> 
> Thanks for all the Kudos and Comments. You people are amazing.
> 
> Enjoy! :)


	7. To Me, It Doesn't Matter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that the character of 'Manny' has been renamed 'Danny.' I was getting too frustrated by the vernacular similarity between 'Manny' and 'Mandy', hence the change. All chapters have been updated to show this change. If you find a stray 'Manny' floating around in the earlier chapters please let me know so that I can edit it. Enjoy!

Ian’s internal alarm clock woke him with a jolt. He raised his head from the mattress with a sharp inhale as the incessant pounding of a hangover consumed him. He was on his stomach with his arm stretched out over the chest of the dark haired man, their legs tangled together. Ian glanced around the room looking for a clock, or his phone, anything that would tell him the time; no such luck. He gently lifted his arm off the sleeping brunette and slowly slid off the bed, being sure not to wake him. He grasped his throbbing head as he searched around for his jeans. He pulled his phone from the front pocket and unlocked the main screen as he walked back to the front hall completely naked.

**7:16 am**

His phone read, along with 3 missed calls and 4 messages. He picked up the cup that he had dropped earlier from the floor.

“Jesus” Ian grumbled his voice hoarse. He walked back to the small bathroom across from the bedroom to grab some of the Ibuprofen that he knew was there. He read through the messages on his phone.

**1:20 am Lip**

**Fuckwad! Answer ur phone. Where the fuck did u take off 2**

**2:07 am Lip**

**U better b gettin ass n not dead somewhere**

**6:35 am Lip**

**U better b home at 10 dipshit**

**7:03 am Fiona**

**IAN. WHERE R U? LIP SAYS U HAVEN’T BEEN IN TOUCH. PLS B HOME ON TIME.**

 

Ian chuckled as he read Fiona’s message, he could hear her yelling as he read the all caps message. He quickly shot off a message to both of his concerned siblings explaining that he was fine and that he would be home on time. He silently made his way back to Mickey’s bed placing his phone on the night stand as he watched the older man sleep. He smirked as he got an idea and carefully positioned himself over top of the other man. He lowered his head and took Mickey into his mouth. He sucked slowly on the mechanic’s dick concentrating on the head, being sure to swipe his tongue over the slit. Mickey’s cock started to stiffen in Ian’s mouth and he felt the brunette start to stir beneath him. Ian started to suck him off harder as he gripped his balls. Mickey’s eye’s fluttered open with a loud moan as Ian once again swirled his tongue around the head.

Mickey’s eyes darted down to the sensation between his legs, his sleepy vision only seeing red.

“The hell are you –“ Mickey began to protest but Ian quickly silenced him by tilting his head and deep throating the sleepy man.

“Fuck. Fuuuuck.” Mickey cursed as he felt the tightness of Ian’s throat surround him, his hands flew to Ian’s hair, gripping into his lose strands as Ian swallowed and contracted around him. Ian pulled up slightly, taking a large inhale through his nose before again burying his nose in Mickey’s pubes.

“Mmmph … I’m gonna cum … I’m gonna … oh God … I’m gonna cum.”

Ian didn’t stop despite Mickey’s warning; he continued to slide his lips up and down the shaking man’s shaft. It was only another few seconds before he felt the hot, sticky jizz hit the back of his throat. He swallowed vigorously, taking it all. He let the mechanic fall from his mouth before he became hyper-sensitive. He slid up wiping the corners of his mouth and coming face to face with Mickey, his eyes were closed blissed out by his orgasm.

“you might want to warn a guy next time” Mickey huffed as he tried to catch his breath “could’ve had a fuckin’ heart attack or somethin’.”

Ian rested on his side his elbow propped as his head rested in his hand, “I don’t think anyone in their twenties has ever had a heart attack from a wake up hummer Mick.”

“Fuckin’ smart ass” Mickey chuckled still trying to catch his breath.

“I think my brain is much smarter” Ian quipped.

“You fuckin’ think so, huh?” Mickey bit as he pushed Ian’s shoulder and rolled on top of him.

Ian’s eyebrows rose as he stared up into Mickey’s ice blue eyes. Mickey smirked down at the redhead; he lowered his head and grazed his teeth along Ian’s freckled collarbone, satisfied as the man beneath him shivered. Mickey continued to graze his teeth down Ian’s chest. Ian moaned and spread his legs in encouragement. Mickey bit, licked and sucked at random, moving lower and lower as Ian arched his back and licked his lips.

Suddenly Mickey’s head shot up and angled toward the open door.

“D’you hear that?” Mickey’s tone was hushed but firm.

“Mmmm” Ian brought his hand to run through Mickey’s hair “hear what?”

“Shhh” Mickey hushed back at him as he angled his ear more toward the door.

It was hardly a sound, a faint scuff, but Mickey was up like a shot and rummaging under his bed.

“Mick, it’s nothing, probably just one of the neighbours being loud” Ian sat up.

Mickey didn’t respond, as he pulled a well-worn baseball bat from under the bed and walked cautiously to the bedroom door.

“Mickey?” Ian tried to get the brunette’s attention.

“Shhhh, stay here” Mickey hushed at him as he stepped through the door.

“Mickey!?” Ian hushed louder.

“Stay fuckin’ here” Mickey warned closing the door behind him before walking up the small hallway.

“Ugh fine” Ian groaned as he fell back onto the bed “just you’re fuckin’ naked” he sarcastically said to himself.

Mickey stepped quietly out of the hallway towards the entryway clenching his fists around the neck of the bat. As he got closer to his front door he raised the bat to his shoulder as the scuffling noise turned to banging. He adjusted his grip and planted his feet, waiting. It was about 30 seconds later, or two deep breaths for Mickey, before the door flew open.

The intruder grasped the handle of the door trying to slow it from slamming into the entryway wall. “Shhhiiiiitt” the intruder hushed.

Mickey prepared to swing, but quickly relaxed his grip when he recognized the intruder.

“Oh for fucks sake Mandy!” Mickey exasperated as he lowered the bat back down.

“Sorry! Sorry! My key got stu– AHHHH! God Mick! Clothes!” Mandy spun quickly so her back was facing her brother, her hands quickly raised to the side of her face to act like blinders.

Mickey inhaled deeply as he pinched the bridge of his nose trying to calm his racing heart; he rested the bat against the wall and turned down the hallway with a groan. He grabbed towel off the back of the bathroom door and secured it around his hips, being sure to hide the bruises from Ian’s fingers. He nervously glanced at his bedroom door and bit down on his bottom lip, a part of him temped to look through the hole where the door handle should be to reassure himself that the redhead was still there. He took one last deep breathe before he sauntered back up the hallway. He leaned at the threshold of the hallway with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched his sister toss the cushions of his couch around the living room.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Mickey groaned, his voice tired

“I’m pretty sure I left my pho- ahhahahaha, found it” she thrust her arm into the air, her phone grasped in her hand. She tossed the cushions back as Mickey shifted his weight, glancing quickly over his shoulder to the bedroom when Mandy’s back was to him.

“you got what you need, now you can get the fuck out” There was no malice in Mickey’s voice, but he was growing more nervous with each passing minute that Mandy was still in his apartment.

“Love you too, brother” She walked back towards him, “since when do you sleep in the buff?” she quipped as she gestured her hand up and down the length of Mickey’s frame.

“How the fuck would you know how I sleep?” Mickey quipped defensively as he tightened his arms around his chest to somehow hide the fact that he was practically naked.

“I shared a house with you for 19 years, I know” she answered with an obvious tone as she tossed the phone back into her overflowing purse.

Mickey rolled his eyes, but was quick to grab Mandy’s arm as she tried to push past him down the small hallway.

“The fuck are you going?” Mickey practically growled as he tightened the grip on her arm, his heart racing uncontrollably, he was deliberately trying not to look in the direction of his bedroom.

“Oww! Gotta piss. Jesus, Mick. Why are you so fuckin’ jumpy?” She yanked her arm away from his grip and turned giving her brother a forceful stare.

“Shut up. Just take your piss and get out” he growled and dropped his gaze from Mandy’s piercing stare.

Mandy quirked an eyebrow as she watched her brother shift in front of him, he was clearly on edge and she couldn’t help trying to read him to find out why. She flitted her glance up and down her brother’s bare torso, her eyes grew wide when she caught on a red mark just above his left nipple.

“Is that a bite mark!?” pointing to the offending red mark.

“Mandy just-“

“Seriously, who is this girl? You’re fallin’ pretty hard” she turned her gaze back down the hallway and whipped her head back to look at her brother with a gasp. She started backing up slowly into the hallway “she’s still here right? You never close your door.”

Mickey moved quickly he pushed off the wall and reached for his sister, Mandy jumped at Mickey’s reaction; she spun trying beat her brother to the handle-less door.

“Mandy! Mandy, leave it!”

“Get off you slut” Mandy was practically giggling as Mickey grasped her from behind, trying to pull her from the door.

“Bitch, just leave it –“ the door flew open at that point being that there was no handle to keep it in its closed position.

The momentum of having Mickey crash into her back sent the bickering brother-sister duo barreling unsteadily into the room. Mickey pulled away in time to see his sister crash into the chest of the redhead who was sat, now fully clothed on the end of the bed. Ian fell back onto the bed as a wiry bundle of limbs landed on top of him.

Mandy jumped off the stranger beneath her as if her were on fire and backed up from the bed, “What the fuck is going on?”

Ian sat back up and adjusted his shirt as he took a drag from the cigarette that Mandy had almost knocked out of his grasp. Mickey stood by the door with his arms crossed staring at the floor. Mandy gaped wide eyed at Ian, her brain not able to process what she was looking at.

Ian looked at Mickey, the man was clearly drowning, he wanted to pull him close and tell him it was going to be okay but he knew that would probably end with a bruised jaw. He stood and faced Mandy as he ran his hand through his tousled red strands.

“I’m Ian” he extended his hand to Mandy and she just stared bug eyed at him, her mouth slightly open. Ian nodded and lowered his arm before adding nonchalantly, “nice to meet you.” He turned back to Mickey as the dark haired man glanced up at him through his lashes. “You’ll need this more than me” he handed the cigarette to the mechanic with a sympathetic smile. Mickey snatched the cigarette quickly; the redhead’s grin grew wider. He leaned in closer to the shorter man being sure not touch or get too close, “we’ll talk later.” And with that he turned and left.

Mandy watched the interaction between the two men with the same shocked expression and her gaze followed the tall man as he turned and left the room. They both stood in awkward silence as they listened for the front door to close.

Mandy turned her gaze back to Mickey focusing on the hand holding the cigarette Ian had passed to him, “Mickey?”

She looked back up to his face when she didn’t get a response “Mickey?”

"Mykhailo Oleksiy Milkovich! If you don’t start fuckin talkin’ right now I swear to God I’m going to fuckin’ lose my shit!” she spat with perfect accented pronunciation.

“What do you want me to say?” Mickey’s tone was a defeated whisper.

“Ohh I don’t know assface, how ‘bout ‘ _I fuck guys_ ’ for one” her tone was angry and stern.

Mickey sat on the edge of the bed with a large sigh as he hung his head in his hands. Mandy’s shoulders dropped as she watched her brother crack, she had never really seen him broken. She moved silently and sat down next to him, pausing for a deep breath before continuing.

“Have you always known that you’re, you know, gay?”

Mickey scoffed. “You and I both know that there was a time when you fucked girls. Was that like, just for show?”

“Does it matter?” Mickey mumbled shamefully.

Mandy shrugged her shoulders in response, and glanced at her brother trying to read his blank stare. Mickey took a long drag from the cigarette as he stared straight ahead of him at a blank spot on the wall, avoiding making eye contact with his sister. A minute of silence passed between them before Mandy realized that he probably needed to hear it, she leaned over and bumped her brother’s shoulder with her own.

“No, it doesn’t matter” she turned and stared at the side of his face, “to me, it doesn’t matter.”

Mickey slightly nodded his head, so subtle that he himself probably didn’t realize that he had done it but Mandy saw it and that was all the affirmation she needed to know that they were going to be okay.

“Does anybody else know?”

Mickey shook his head as he exhaled smoke from his nostrils. “Nobody important” he stated bluntly as he continued to stare at the wall and fiddled with the end of the dying butt.

Mandy exasperated loudly as she clasped her hands in her lap, “Jesus Mick, you’ve been hiding for what, 20 years? How have you not self-destructed?”

“What did ya expect? Me to walk around bein’ some rainbow flag wearin’, musical watchin’ pansy. Dad would have loved that.”

“Fuck off! Don’t try to play the ‘my dad’s an asshole’ card, because guess what captain obvious he’s my dad too. You could have told me fuckface, you could have told me!” Mandy’s voice cracked with frustration as she fought to hold back the welling tears. She and Mickey have always had a bond; they have always been the closest of all of their siblings. She couldn’t resist feeling betrayed, albeit slightly, that her big brother couldn’t tell her his biggest secret.

“You’re not gonna start cryin’ now right?”

“No!” Mandy said sternly as she threw her head back and blinked at the ceiling.

“Good. Just ‘cause I’m a fag doesn’t mean I’m gonna do the whole feelings shit” he took a final pull from his cigarette.

“Ass” Mandy chuckled before turning back to look at her brother, “So this guy, Ian right?” Mickey didn’t respond as he fiddled with the towel around his waist.

“He’s hot. A little heads up would have been nice when I was drooling all over him the other day.”

“Like that would have stopped you” Mickey jested playfully as he turned to look at his sister, biting his bottom lip.

“Are you callin’ me a slut?” Mandy feigned dramatically.

“If the shoe fits” he quipped back, smirking at his sister.

Mandy moved quickly, she reached over and grabbed her brother’s right nipple and twisted, “arrrrgh, bitch!” Mickey hissed as he pushed his sister off and stood up quickly.

She smiled at her brother devilishly and started to chuckle, Mickey soon followed suit. He laughed hard, as if he was releasing something; the tension of hiding from everyone was slowly slipping away knowing that the bond between him and Mandy was still there.

“Alright, I gotta get to work” Mickey rubbed his neck.

Mandy stood and walked back to the bedroom door, she turned back to look at Mickey.

“You need to tell him, he’s your best friend and he won’t care. But tell him” she turned on her heel as Mickey groaned behind her. He threw off the towel when he thought she was on her way out and went to grab a pair of boxers from his chest of drawers. He quickly turned at the sound of his sister’s voice returning, covering his junk with the boxers grasped in his hand.

“Invite them over.”

“Jesus! What?” he said startled

“Anna and Danny. Invite them over. I’ll cook.”

“ _Why_ would I invite them over?” Mickey grumbled

“Because I know you Mykhailo, I would never have found out if I literally hadn’t fallen on your booty call. I know you won’t tell Danny unless you’re in a situation that forces you to. _So_ I’m creating that situation.” Her smile was devilish as she twirled her hair around her finger.

Mickey rolled his eyes as she shifted uncomfortably both hands still pressing the loose cotton to his pelvis. “Fine. I’ll ask. Now would you fuckin’ leave already.”

Mandy’s smile grew wide from victory as Mickey gave into her plan. “Great. Friday then. I’m not working. And make sure they bring the baby, I want to meet her.” With that Mandy turned again to leave, she yelled back to the room as she walked down the hallway “and Ian, I want to meet him too.”

Mickey waited to hear the front door slam before moving. Once he heard it he let out a heavy breath and scanned his eyes around the room, slowly trying to make sense of what had just happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Massive Apologies for the long wait. I didn't want to post this chapter until I had an actual purpose to this fic, by the time that happened I was deep in the Canadian wilderness camping for over a week and visiting family. 
> 
> I am so happy so many of you are enjoying this story, all of you support whether kudos, comments or those of you just reading it is pushing me to continue.
> 
> I would just like to note that I will be leaving the country for 6 months next week and I'm going to do my best to update this story but it may take a while so apologies in advance.


	8. Need

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Millions of apologies for such a long wait, I never did find the time to write while I was living abroad. I hope I make up for it with this very long chapter :) Enjoy

Mickey barged into work just in time; he tossed his keys and phone on to the desk startling Danny who had been hunched over the filing cabinet.

“Fuck! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

Mickey just grunted in response as he shucked off his jacket and tossed it over the back of the chair. Mickey turned his back to Danny and rummaged through the paperwork on the desk, trying to avoid his boss’ eye contact.

“You’re such a delightful person in the mornings” Danny quipped sarcastically.

“Whatever” Mickey grumbled as he grabbed his coveralls off the hook and headed for the back door. He wasn’t trying to be a jerk, but every time he looked at his best friend his mind blanked and all he could hear was his sister’s voice playing on repeat in his head, _‘tell him, he’s your best friend, he won’t care._ ’ He attempted to tune out her voice by working on every job that came in and cranking up the Zep.

Mickey had successfully avoided Danny for most of the day using a tactful combination of a few brief head nods and grunts. Danny blew it off, after six years, he was more than capable of handling the short man’s cold periods; frequent occurrences that Danny described as ‘Mickey moments.’ Mickey’s go-to persona has always been self-preservation; it had to be to survive his childhood. Vulnerability has never been an option. More people knowing who he really was would leave him exposed and vulnerable. He’d thought about telling Danny hundreds of times over the course of their friendship but his instinct to protect himself always won out and he would shut himself away. He didn’t want to chance losing what he had with Danny, because if you didn’t count Mandy (and Mickey never counted his _nosy fuckin’ sister_ ) Danny was his only friend.

A message from Ian had come a few hours after Mickey had arrived at work.

**10:41 am              Ian**

**Just making sure ur OK.**

**10:41 am              Ian**

**After what happened earlier.**

He read the messages and smiled to himself as he read Ian’s clarification; as if the redhead was under the impression he could forget about his sister finding out his biggest secret. Milkoviches were never ones for feelings and he definitely didn’t need Ian sending him any of those proud, pep-talky messages, so he replied brief and to the point.

**10:50 am              Mickey**

**I’m dealing w/it**

He didn’t wait for Ian’s reply; he hoped that the redhead got the point not to push the issue. He tossed his phone into a drawer in the front desk and went back to work.

* * *

 

Danny sat at the front desk, typing up the invoice for the car Mickey had just finished. He looked up at the sound of the front door opening.

“Hey! You come to tame the beast?” Danny asked jokingly.

“For the 24 years he has been my brother I still don’t possess those talents” Mandy replied blankly.

“Yeah well I don’t think I have ever seen ‘em this uptight” Danny came around the counter to give Mandy a hug.

Mandy gave Danny a soft knowing smile, “I think this pissy moment might have been overdue.”

Danny looked at her questioningly, and she shook her head subtly in response, she wasn’t going to be the one to out her brother to his best friend. So she simply answered “sibling thing.”

Danny nodded in understanding.

“So did Mickey tell you the big plan?” Mandy attempted to lighten the mood.

“What plan?” Danny asked.

“Yeah, what plan?” Mickey barked as he came through the back into the office.

Mandy looked at her brother exasperated, “Friday. Dinner, asshole.”

“You weren’t fuckin’ serious?”

“As a heart attack” She chirped as she stared at her brother warningly.

Mickey dropped his gaze and ran his hand over his face with a groan; he knew Mandy wouldn’t let up.

“So, Friday. Dinner?” Mandy turned back to Danny. “At Mickey’s, don’t worry I’m cooking. And you are on strict instructions to bring Anna and Callie.” Mandy continued before Danny had a chance to respond.

“You okay with this?” The portly man turned to his best friend in askance.

Mickey shifted his weight with his hands buried in his pockets; he shrugged his shoulders and mumbled while staring at the floor, “she’s doin’ all the work, I’m just the kitchen.”

“Well, who could turn down an evening with your enthusiastic personality” Danny drawled as he turned back to Mandy. “I’m sure Anna will be fine with it.”

“Great!” Mandy said over-excitedly, while Mickey rolled his eyes and began peeling off his coveralls.

“So like, 7:30?”

Mickey stormed past the pair on his way to the front, quickly grunting a ‘see ya tomorrow’ over his shoulder as he threw open the door.

Danny turned back to Mandy with a slightly confused look, “see what I mean” he said knowingly as he gestured to the now closed door.

Mandy followed Danny’s gesture and just nodded in response. “I’ll talk to him” she lied; pretending she had no idea what had put her brother so on edge. Danny walked back over to the desk, and rummaged in the drawer before returning to Mandy.

“And when you do, you can give him this back” he handed Mandy her brother’s phone. “He tossed it in the desk sometime this afternoon; I’m guessing it has something to do with this mood swing.”

“Thanks Danny” she said softly as she turned to door, “and see you Friday!” she yelled quickly as she hurried to catch up with her brother.

* * *

 

She caught up with the smaller man on the platform of the L.

“Forget something, short-stack” Mandy waved Mickey’s phone mockingly in the air.

Mickey dug his hands into his pockets subconsciously looking for his phone as he watched his sister wave it at him. He held out his hand. Mandy smirked and pulled the phone away.

“You have a few unread messages. Are they from the sexy redhead, I wonder?” She teased rhetorically.

Mickey tried to grab for the phone, but Mandy quickly jumped onto the recently arrived train car. “I wonder what the passcode is?” She teased rhetorically as she sauntered backwards through the car.

“Just gimme the fuckin’ phone Mandy” Mickey grumbled as he followed her through the car.

“Your birthday?” she teased as she punched a series of numbers into the phone. “Nope. Mom’s birthday?” Again she entered numbers into the keypad. “Nope. Hmmm, I’ve usually been able to guess your passcodes easily.”

“Mandy!” Mickey warned

“Oooo, Evan’s birthday? Dammit Mickey, why do you gotta go and get unpredictable on me now. Here, it’s locked for a few minutes anyway.” She handed him back the phone.

Mickey tried to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal by taking it and shoving it into his pocket, but the tension in his shoulders immediately eased with the phone resting comfortably against his thigh. Mickey stretched out on the double seat, forcing Mandy to take the double seat in front of him. There were a few minutes of silence as Mickey stared out the window.

“So … who from the neighbourhood have you boned? Like guy wise.” Mandy leaned over the back of the seat.

“No Mandy.”

“Oh come on Mickey, every girl wants to have a gay best friend. And now I have one better, the gay brother/best friend.”

Mickey shot up in his seat and nervously scanned the empty train car, “shut the fuck up!” he hissed at her.

“Would you calm the fuck down. There’s no one here.”

Mickey stood and made his way to the doors to get off at the next stop.

“Mickey! Seriously, you need to calm the fuck down.” She spoke to her brother’s back. “You fuck dudes, big deal. You are still my brother. I’m still gonna tease you and be your annoying little sister. So please stop freaking the fuck out.”

Mickey turned and leaned against the wall; he kept his eyes on the floor but nodded his head slightly as the L came to a stop.

“See you Friday Mick.”

He nodded more assuredly this time as he turned and stepped off the train. Mandy sat in her seat and sighed as the train pulled away, “fuckin’ drama queen.”

* * *

 

As soon as the train pulled away Mickey fished out his phone, and typed in his passcode. _‘She’d never guess her own birthday_ ’ he thought as he typed in the numbers. He made his way back to his apartment and checked the two new messages from Ian. The first had come just after throwing his phone in the drawer at work.

**10:54 am              Ian**

**Ok**

A simple acknowledgement that he understood Mickey was uncomfortable talking about that morning. The next message had come later that afternoon, an attempt to bait Mickey into a conversation. Clearly unsuccessful but Mickey still smirked to himself as he read the message hours later.

**3:16 pm                Ian**

**So … your sister seems nice**

Mickey’s fingers lingered over the keypad as he thought of a response. He stared at Ian’s message, reading it over and over again. His heart began to race as he thought of Mandy and her dinner plans. He shoved his phone back into his pocket without answering Ian’s message.

* * *

 

After drowning himself in copious amounts of alcohol attempting to stop the constant replay of the day’s event, Mickey awoke from his drunken stupor to the sound of knocking at his front door. He stumbled half asleep to the front door, wrenching it open with vigorous force and barking, “WHAT!?” before noticing the man in front of him. Ian stood before him with his hands behind his back; he peered at Mickey from under his lashes.

“Hi” he said with a smile.

“How the fuck do you keep getting’ in” Mickey said without any venom as he turned away from the door and grabbed two beers from the fridge. Ian followed him into the apartment, his hands still clasped behind his back.

“I think Mrs. Vanderman and I are becoming very fast friends.”

“You’re not serious?” Mickey turned to hand Ian a beer, his eyebrows raised to his hairline in a slight panic.

“No” Ian chuckled as he shifted his hands and reached for the beer keeping one behind his back, “there was a pizza guy coming in, I caught the door before it closed.”

Mickey nodded as he took a swig from his beer; they were both still standing in the entryway. Mickey swallowed and gestured to Ian’s hidden hand, “what you got there Houdini?”

“Ahh” Ian shifted again and Mickey heard the rustling of cellophane. “Now don’t freak out, it was just supposed to be a joke but it might not be as funny as I thought it would be.”

“What?” Mickey exasperated.

Ian presented a gift basket from behind his back and handed it over to Mickey. Mickey put his beer down and took the basket from Ian, his face drawing a blank as he examined the contents.

“Gallagher. What. The. Fuck. Is. This?”

Ian shifted as he fiddled with the edge of his jacket, “I might have asked my sister to make a coming out basket.”

“A _what_ basket?”

“A coming out basket, stocked with all the gay essentials. I was never that stereotypical gay brother, so Debbie kinda went overboard.”

“Seriously?” Mickey asked warningly, eyebrows threatening to disappear into his hair.

“Oh come on, it’s funny.” Ian stepped toward Mickey, “look, it’s got some musicals, some hair product, an eyeliner, glitter, flavoured lube and a Costco size box of condoms.”

Mickey stared at the basket a little dumbfounded, “and that?” Mickey asked as he nodded to the folded paper that Ian hadn’t named. Ian came around to stand beside Mickey and peered into the basket.

“Hmm that … that would be a poster of Zac Efron. I had a phase.” He said with a chuckle.

“You’re right. It’s not funny.” Mickey said bitterly as he pushed the basket back at Ian and stomped off toward the couch, beer in hand.

“Aww come on Mick. It’s just a joke, I never had the big dramatic coming out.” He followed Mickey to the couch and dropped the basket on to the coffee table. “I was just tryin’ to lighten the mood.”

Mickey huffed as he took a swig from his beer. They sat beside each other silently drinking their beers, the basket placed in the middle of the coffee table between them.

Ian spoke quietly breaking the silence, “So, I’m leavin’ town for a while tomorrow.”

Mickey’s gaze fell to his lap as he began to pull the label off his beer.

“It’s not you drama queen.” Ian chuckled as he moved closer to Mickey, “It’s for work. I gotta go to the New York office, help with one of their new campaigns.”

“New York huh?” Mickey tried, unsuccessfully, to sound uninterested.

“Yeah, it should be pretty sweet. I’ve never been outta Chicago before, the company’s ponying up for the first class flight and the 4 star hotel.”

“Hard life” Mickey deadpanned.

“Shit! I’m not tryna gloat, I’m just kinda excited and –“

“Calm down Red, I ain’t bustin’ your balls.”

Ian opened his mouth about to respond but shut it as he saw Mickey look at him. Mickey smirked and Ian shot him a gleaming smile.

Mickey again dropped his gaze as he started to feel uncomfortable, “how long?”

“Uhh, they told us at least two weeks and it might be pushed to three. Beca’s really hoping it doesn’t go three weeks because she has her sister’s wedding. But we’re juniors, we have to pay our dues, they say jump and we don’t even ask how high, we just start jumping.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah but I’m not complaining I’m working for one of the top consulting firms in the country, and you know I figure eventually it will lead to –“

Mickey belched loudly interrupting the babbling redhead, “you wanna chit chat or you wanna get on me?”

Ian grinned widely as Mickey bit down on his bottom lip and raised his eyebrow in askance. The tall man drew his hips forward and started undoing his belt in a hurry. Mickey stood and ripped his tee over his head and dropped his pants quickly as he knelt on the couch facing the backrest. Ian brushed up behind the shorter man grabbing his ass and leaning over his back to growl in his ear, “condom?”

“Did you not just bring me a fuckin’ fag basket?”

“Oh yeah.” Ian chuckled. He turned and fought with the cellophane wrapping as Mickey groaned in impatience.

“Keep your pants on princess.” Ian quipped as he popped the cap on the bottle of lube.

“Little late for that.”

“Funny today, are we?” Ian asked rhetorically as he pushed a lubed finger into the crouching man’s hole.

Mickey groaned as Ian’s finger slid deeper and he pushed back telling Ian that he wanted more. Ian pushed a second finger in and curled them aiming for the brunette’s prostate. He smiled when he was rewarded by the man beneath him sucking in a breath sharply and dropping his head. He moved his fingers slowly, teasing the sensitive spot, enjoying the sounds coming from the man beneath him.

“You’re such a fuckin’ tease man.” Mickey huffed as Ian continued at an agonizingly slow pace.

Ian only hummed in response and dragged his hand down Mickey’s back to rest on the shorter man’s hip. Mickey reached back and slapped at Ian’s hand with a growl. “Come on.”

“God, you’re so fuckin’ hot.” Ian breathed as he pulled out his fingers and rolled on the condom.

“Eh, shut up with that and just get on me.” Mickey barked impatiently over his shoulder.

“I think you love it” the redhead stated as he lined up.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” Ian breathed as he slowly pushed in and reached around to palm Mickey’s hardened dick.

Mickey bit his lip with a moan as Ian filled him; he pushed back until he felt the brush of the taller man’s hips. Ian’s breathing was quick as he waited for Mickey’s tight heat to adjust.

“Holy fuck, you are so fuckin’ tight”

“Mmmph, enough chatter Red. Move!” the brunette huffed impatiently.

Ian chuckled at the older man’s impatience and snapped his hips. They both grunted in unison as Ian plowed into Mickey at a hammering pace. Mickey knew he wasn’t going to last long, thrusting his cock into Ian’s loose grip.

“Shit!” The mechanic moaned as he reached down and gripped Ian’s hand tighter around his leaking member. Ian’s pace stuttered as his orgasm built. Mickey came first, shooting his load over both of their hands. Ian’s breath hitched as Mickey clenched around him, he dropped his forehead to the back of Mickey’s neck as he hit his climax. Ian relaxed, leaving Mickey to support his weight as they both caught their breath. The room was silent aside from the heavy breathing of the two spent men. Mickey nudged Ian in the solar plexus signaling him to get off and they both flopped onto the couch.

Mickey reached for his discarded t-shirt to clean off his hand before he reached for his usual post sex cigarette. Ian got up and tossed the condom into the trash in the kitchen and grabbed a couple more beers, “fuuuuck” he exasperated before crashing back down next to Mickey and propping his feet on the coffee table.

“Hmm?” Mickey hummed around his cig.

“What? Oh, nothing. Just, it’s gonna be a fuckin’ long two weeks.” Ian smirked at Mickey as he took a sip of his beer.

The brunette’s eyebrows pulled together in confusion, but he kept quiet as he took a pull from his own beer.

“Maybe we could Skype?” The tall man asked honestly as he reached for the cigarette in Mickey’s hand.

Mickey watched Ian’s hand as if it was in slow motion, still not sure of the point Ian was making. He followed the redhead’s hand and watched as Ian took a long drag before handing it back.

“I mean, two weeks without sex is gonna seem like a century. Dunno if I can do it.” Ian was purposely being facetious, just trying to start a playful conversation, the other man clearly wasn’t following judging by his blunt response.

“So don’t. I’m sure there’s plenty of ass in the big city.” He said staring at his lap.

“What!? No, that’s not what I –“

“Look, it’s not like you need my permission,” Mickey said coldly as he stood up, pulling on his boxers, “you know your way out” he continued around the neck of his beer as he headed for his bedroom.

Ian let out a sigh as his head fell to the backrest, “shit” he mumbled to himself as he heard the shorter man stalking away. He heaved himself off the couch quickly to catch up with the other man, stumbling as he stepped into his own boxers.

“Mickey.” Ian spoke softly from the doorframe.

“You still here?” The mechanic attempted to say nonchalantly as he picked up a towel from the floor giving it a sniff and throwing it over his bare shoulder.

Ian couldn’t fight the smile that crept on his face as he watched Mickey carry on, casually avoiding addressing the issue. Mickey approached the door and pushed past the glaring redhead.

“Don’t you have some big city you need to be getting’ to?” he spat dryly as he sauntered down the hallway to the bathroom. Ian rolled his eyes as the mechanic walked away; it only took him a few large strides to reach the bathroom door extending his hand to stop it from closing.

“Seriously?” Mickey questioned as the door opened.

“Yes, seriously.” Ian exasperated as he again stood in a doorway.

Mickey pulled his hand down his face slowly in aggravation but before he could get another smart ass remark in, Ian had stepped into the room leaving an arm’s breadth between them.

“Look,” Ian started “I know we have only been doing this for like a week, but I know that there is more than just fucking between us. And I think you do too.”

“Oh yeah, is that what you think?”

“Yeah, that’s what I think.” Ian responded, his annoyance growing; “because I have never felt the need to semi-stalk my hook ups by showing up unannounced at their work or shitfaced at their front door. And you …” Ian breathed as he stepped closer to the dark haired man.

Mickey cocked his eyebrows and clenched his jaw as Ian invaded his personal space.

“You kissed me.” The redhead finished.

Mickey scoffed, “you’re not that special.” He turned and started fiddling with the shower faucet.

Ian grabbed his arm and yanked him back around, “stop dismissing me!”

“Get the fuck off me!” Mickey shoved the taller man.

Ian ran his hand through his hair in exasperation as he counted to five to calm his rising emotions. He crossed the bathroom in two large steps pinning Mickey against the wall, bracing his hands on the shorter man’s shoulders applying steady pressure. It took Mickey a few beats to register what happened. But before he could get rough, Ian had dropped his head to within a few inches of Mickey’s and started speaking with determination.

“Need. That’s what this feels like to me. There is something about you, abrasive demeanor aside, that keeps pulling me to you; like you’re something I need. You can call me an emotional fag or whatever, but deep down in that abandoned cave where you keep your feelings, I know you feel something. I’m not asking you to pour your heart out, but give me something, anything to let me know that I’m not alone here.”

Mickey stared back into Ian’s pleading eyes; he was vigorously chewing on his lower lip as mind waged an internal war with itself. Part of him wanted to tell Ian that he felt a similar feeling, while the other part wanted to deck him for getting too close with his emotional bullshit. After about 30 seconds of silent staring, Ian breathed a loud sigh and dropped his arms from Mickey’s shoulders.

“Fine” he muttered defeated and started to turn back to the doorway. Before he could even take one step towards the door however, Mickey had grabbed his arm and was pulling him down by the neck to crash their lips together. There was no grace as their mouths met, there was all consuming need. The kiss was forceful as Mickey pressed his body closer. Ian took a few steps back trying to regain his balance; Mickey’s hand was still locked at the back of his neck while the other rested on the back of the taller man’s hip. Ian’s hands were lost; they roamed all over the mechanic’s torso. Ian groaned in discomfort as he collided with the corner of the cabinet, he could feel Mickey’s hard on pressing on his thigh through the thin fabric of his boxers; he ran his hands down the firm muscles of the shorter man’s back and slipped past the waistband of the aforementioned boxers to give his ass a firm squeeze. This time it was Mickey who groaned; he pulled off the redhead and stepped out of the offending fabric but instead of reattaching himself to Ian’s mouth he stepped into the hot spray of the shower and pulled the curtain. Ian’s brain was running on empty after their make-out session and he sat confused as the curtain was pulled closed. He was brought out of his stupor by the sound of Mickey’s voice.

“Hot water ain’t gonna last forever Gallagher.”

Ian couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face; he pushed of the counter quickly and grabbed a condom from the medicine cabinet before following. Mickey heard the slide of the shower hooks as he let the hot water fall on his chest, he felt the taller man push up behind him and rub his hand down his front. He let his head fall to Ian’s shoulder and the redhead took advantage by dragging his teeth along the sensitive flesh. He pushed back and ground his hips into the younger man’s, they both moaned. Ian pressed on Mickey’s shoulder blades and the brunette braced himself on the cold tile; the taller man ripped the condom package with his teeth and rolled it on. Before Mickey even had time to think, the redhead was steadily pushing in; he groaned as Ian reached the hilt and started a slow pace. The mechanic dropped to rest his forearms against the wall and met each of the thrusts with an equal amount of horniness and impatience; Ian got the hint. He repositioned, bracing his one hand on the tile wall just above Mickey’s arms and the other firmly gripped on his hip; he pulled out almost completely before driving back in and setting a rapid pace. Ian’s body was itching for a release after their tenuous argument; as if reading his mind, Mickey reached under him and gripped Ian’s balls, he slowly massaged them in his palm.

“Oh … Jesus” Ian breathed as his hips stuttered with the new sensation.

Mickey moaned through a grin and began grinding his hips back into the redhead.

“Shit … Mick, I’m gonna … I gonna cum.” The brunette started to grind faster.

The tall man’s breath caught and his gripped tightened on the mechanic’s hip as he came. Mickey’s hips stilled as he felt Ian climax, he reached down to his own straining cock; Ian brought his mouth to Mickey’s ear and whispered breathlessly as he grabbed the hand stroking his member.

“Let me.”

The shorter man released his grip as the redhead took over; he poured some of Mickey’s body wash on his hand as a makeshift lube and began to run his hand along the mechanic’s dick. Ian skilfully rotated his wrist as he stroked the older man to completion. Ian grazed his teeth down Mickey’s neck, he smiled as the other man shivered and continued to leave his love bite. The brunette groaned loudly as he came, shooting his load against the shower wall. The taller man waited a beat before pulling his now soft dick out of the man beneath him; he tossed the condom onto the edge of the tube and began to soap Mickey’s shoulders. Mickey quickly soaped his front and rinsed, he grabbed Ian by the hips and pulled him forward. Ian hummed happily as he got closer.

“You ready again?”

Mickey huffed a laugh and he expertly pivoted Ian so he was closest to the shower head, “you’ve got maybe 2 minutes of hot water.”

Before Ian could reply the older man had stepped out of the tub, Ian quickly washed and stepped out to follow, just as Mickey returned to the bathroom with another towel.

“You happy now, Romeo?” Mickey grumbled as he swiped his thumb across his bottom lip, watching the redhead affix his towel.

“As long as we’re on the same page.” He chirped optimistically.

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Mickey turned to stalk back down the hallway fed up.

“No! Mickey, wait!” Ian hurried after him, “I just meant that whatever this is, and I’m not ready to define it either, but just whatever this is you’re on board with it.”

“You talk too much. You know that?”

Ian smiled broadly as he stepped closer, “so … yes?” Ian continued to invade the shorter man’s personal space.

“Don’t push it Gallagher.” His glare a perfect mix of warning and sex. If it was possible, Ian’s grin widened, he dragged his fingers lightly down the brunette’s pale chest.

“Okay, I’ll leave it,” he dropped his head and met Mickey’s lips in a chaste kiss, “for now.” He whispered against his lips. They kissed slowly; Ian was basically cradling the mechanic’s head in his hands while Mickey had a grip on the redhead’s hips. Mickey slipped his hands around Ian’s waist and pulled his towel loose. The younger man moaned and pulled away.

“What!? Now you don’t want this?”

Ian chuckled softly, “No, I want this” he glanced down to his semi-hard cock, “I really want this. But I can’t stay; I gotta pack for my flight in the morning.”

“ Mmhm. Big shot in the big city.” Mickey hummed as he stepped back.

“Ha! From your mouth.” The redhead chuckled as he walked to the living room to get his clothes. Mickey followed and propped himself against the wall.

Ian sauntered toward him when he finished putting on his shirt, “you standing there, in that towel is making it really hard to leave.”

“Yeah, well – mmmph.”

Ian crowded the shorter man, smothering his body with his own and silencing him with his mouth.

“Don’t ruin it. I have the perfect mental picture.” He brought his lips back down; Mickey unconsciously ground his hips against Ian’s thigh, desperate for some friction. Ian pulled away again, steadying his hand against the mechanic’s chest.

“Okay,” he breathed, “I’m really leaving.” He started walking backward to the front door smiling as he watched Mickey throw his head back against the wall in sexual frustration.

“So, I’ll call you?” Ian asked happily as he fiddled with the handle behind his back.

Mickey pursed his lips and subtly nodded his head as he dropped his gaze to the floor, unable to verbalize.

Ian beamed, “Okay, later then.”

“Later.” Mickey grumbled. Ian turned out the door.

“Eh Red!” Mickey yelled after him before the door fully closed. Ian poked his hand back into the apartment.

“Safe flight.” Before Ian could respond Mickey had turned and headed to his bedroom.

* * *

 

Mickey had successfully managed to get through most of his day without thinking about a certain charismatic redhead. There might have been a few lingering thoughts when he went to brush his teeth and saw Ian’s boxers lying on the bathroom on the floor but he allowed himself a satisfied smirk when he threw them into his hamper. He quickly shook himself back to reality and continued on with his day.

It was a slow day at the garage; Mickey spent most of it in the office fiddling with every office supply on the desk. It was 11 am when his phone buzzed with a message from Ian. The mechanic glanced around the garage nervously before he opened the message. He couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face as he looked at the picture message of a very excited, grinning Gallagher, selfie-ing with a New York City taxi and holding up his boarding pass.

“Be still my beating heart, he does smile.”

Mickey jerked at the sound of Danny’s voice and not so subtly shoved his phone deep into his pocket. “What are you yappin’ about?” He barked in response as he started clicking at random on the computer in front of him.

“Oh, just that hell is freezing over. The apocalypse is near! ‘Cause that looked like genuine happiness.”

“Fuck Off.”

“Stop being a prima donna. You know you’re allowed to be happy even if it’s because you’re seeing someone.”

Mickey’s stomach dropped out from under him and his breath caught in his throat.

“You’re really falling for this girl aren’t ya?”

Mickey let out the breath he was holding slowly to keep it discrete; he huffed and shook his head before glancing back up at Danny, “you know we don’t talk about that shit, man.”

“Well as long as we’re talking.”

Mickey stood up from behind the desk and grabbed his jacket, “whatever man, I’m going to get some food.”                   

“Eh!” Danny grabbed Mickey’s arm before he could leave, “we’re good, right? We’re talkin?”

Mickey looked back to his best friend, he tried to b-line it out of the office to avoid an awkward confrontation, but it happened anyway and he wasn’t ready to tell him. “Yeah, man. We’re good.” He responded as he pulled his arm out of the bigger man’s grip, “just got some shit I’m dealing with right now.”

Danny stared, almost studying the other man, “alright. Well, you know if you need help, Anna and I – “

“No, man. Don’t worry, it ain’t like that. I just need some time to sort it out.” Mickey was backing toward the door, eager to escape the consuming feeling of anxiety. “See ya in a bit.”

He was gone before Danny could respond and his best friend was left staring his expression a mix of both confusion and concern.

* * *

 

Friday came quicker than Mickey would have liked, every time he and Danny tried to have a semblance of conversation the interaction got awkward quickly as Mickey’s anxiety would uncontrollably rise. Mickey ducked out of the garage early claiming he needed to give Mandy a hand at his place.

He stomped through the door at 5:30pm with a fresh case of beer on his hip. Mandy was already clattering away in the kitchen, music blasting as she bounced along chopping vegetables.

“Liquid courage?” She baited.

“I ain’t doin’ this shit fuckin’ sober.” Mickey barked back as he lowered the volume of the music slightly.

“Turning down Back in Black is a sin, you know.”

“Yeah, well add it to the list. You know how bitchy my neighbours are.” Mickey turned, headed for a shower. He stopped short as he phone started buzzing in his pocket; he fished it out quickly anticipating it to be Ian. His face immediately scowled as he read the name on the screen and hit ignore, tossing it onto his bed and heading for the bathroom.

Mickey shuffled back into the kitchen 20 minutes later, Mandy was leaning over a big stock pot on the stove; “smells good. What you makin’?”

“Mom’s goulash.”

“How can you know how to make that? You were like 7 when she died.”

“Well, it’s not exactly Mom’s. I just googled Ukranian goulash and picked the one with the nicest picture.” She turned to smile at his dumbfounded expression, “but it smells right, right?”

“Yeah, s’weird how a smell can do that.”

“I keep expecting her to come around the corner like ‘ _Oh Mykhailo, vat have you done now?’_ ” Mandy gestured mockingly at her brother.

“Eh. S’not like you were the perfect child. You were like my fuckin’ shadow… _Romana._ ”

Mandy cringed as her brother dropped her given name. “You know as much as I hate our shithead of a father, I wish he would have put his foot down on the foreign names.”

Mickey chuckled as his sister turned back to the stove, “probably the only way she could say ‘fuck you’ to the useless bastard.”

There was a comfortable silence between them for a while as they both stood in the kitchen. Mickey’s thoughts started to build as he remembered the full intention of this dinner.

“Fuuuck.” He exasperated as he ran his hand down his face.

Mandy stared at her brother sympathetically, she could basically feel the anxiety radiating off of him. She stepped around him and started digging through her bag; she turned back and tossed a package at her brother. “Thought this might be useful now.”

Mickey glanced down at the package in his hand, “a little late for this, don’t you think?” Mickey turned the packaged door handle over in his hand as his sister stared back at him with a shit eating grin.

“Well, at least now you and the sexy redhead can bang like bunnies without a care in the world.”

“Bitch.” Mickey said playfully as he grabbed the beer and went back to his room. He grabbed his phone from the bed and cleared the three new missed calls from the screen. He opened the camera and took a picture of the package in his hand.

**6:32pm                 Mickey**

**Look what my sister just gave me.**

He sent the picture to Ian with a smile on his face.

**6:32pm                 Ian**

**Mmm that’s awesome. Can’t wait to test it out.**

A heat flushed through Mickey’s body.

**6:34pm                 Mickey**

**U hitting on me already. I haven’t even had dinner yet.**

**6:35pm                 Ian**

**Gimme a break. It’s been 5 days and I’m an hour ahead so I’ve had dinner. ;)**

**6:35pm                 Mickey**

**Don’t do that**

**6:36pm                 Ian**

**Do what??????**

**6:36pm                 Mickey**

**Don’t send me winky faces**

**6:37pm                 Ian**

**;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)**

“Fuckin’ smartass.” Mickey chuckled as he looked at the screen of his phone entirely covered in winky faces.

**6:38pm                 Mickey**

**Ur such a jerk.**

Just as Mickey replied to Ian he heard the buzzer of his intercom sound followed by his sister practically yelling into the speaker. He cringed slightly, _they're early_ , he thought to himself as he heaved himself off the bed. He sent one last text Ian:

**6:40pm                 Mickey**

**Gotta take care of some shit tonight so talk later**

**6:40pm                 Ian**

**Alright. Hope everything’s ok.**

Mickey took a deep breath before exiting his bedroom; he rubbed his sweaty palms on his thighs as he rounded the corner of the hallway.

“Alright, let’s just try to have a nice dinner and then you can tell him. Okay? Okay Mickey?” Mandy tried to be reassuring as Mickey shuffled on his feet and stared at her coldly.

“I never know what to do when I come around? Do you want me to knock or just open the door with my key?” The siblings both cracked a smile at the sound of Danny’s exaggerated tone on the other side of the door. Mandy gave her brother’s shoulder a firm squeeze before turning to let the guests in.

They all exchanged their pleasantries and made themselves comfortable in Mickey’s living room. Anna handed Callie over to Mickey as she embraced Mandy and they started catching up. He was left no choice but to take her or she would fall. He held the little girl awkwardly under her arms with an unimpressed look on his face.

“How do you still not know how to hold a baby?” Danny asked as he twisted the top off his beer.

“S’not like I've had much practice. She ain’t cryin’, so I’m not that bad.”

“Nah, she’s just taking in your ugliness.”

“I’d flip you off but that means I’d have to drop your kid so…?” He smiled at his buddy as Danny huffed out a laugh.

Danny reached over to relieve Mickey of his struggle and cradled his daughter into his chest.

“Now how do you make that shit actually look good?” Mickey asked as he opened his beer.

“ ’Cause I love it man. You finally gonna tell me what’s been eating at you all week man?”           

Mickey took a long pull from his beer, hoping to drown away the question. Mandy looked over Anna’s shoulder and saw the panic start to set in.

“Well, I hope you guys are ready for some Ukranian goodness.” She stood and motioned to the table. Everyone stood and made their way over to the table and she gave Mickey’s hand a light unnoticeable squeeze. Mandy was a great host and kept both Anna and Danny engaged in conversation. Mickey would throw in a one word answer occasionally, but for the most part kept eating silently.

“So Mickey, anything new going on in your life? Anna asked innocently.

Mickey looked up from his plate, his expression tormented with worry and stress. He met Mandy’s stare as she gave him a sympathetic smile. “I, umm. I … Agh!” he groaned and gripped at his hair.

“What the fuck is going on, man? Did you fuckin’ kill someone?” Danny questioned.

“no” he whispered, “No, I just –“

“Just what? If you don’t actually start talking in sentences I think I might break something.” Danny’s patience had run out and his frustration took over.

“Fuck it.” Mickey mumbled under his breath before turning to face his best friend. “I’m gay!” He put on his tough guy act almost as a reflex. His eyebrows rose as he waited for any type of confrontation from Danny.

Danny sat back and scoffed, unconvinced. “You can’t be … You know, you’re so …” As Danny struggled to comprehend, he glanced over to Mandy whose expression alone answered his confusion. Anna was the first to move, she scrapped he chair back against the floor and walked around to Mickey’s side of the table.

“Get up.” She said unwaveringly.

“I ain’t gonna hit a woman.”

“You are such a stubborn ass. Get up!” She said in her best angry mom voice.

Mickey stood slowly and kept his gaze down, his entire body tense ready for everything to fall apart. He was shocked when Anna threw her arms around him and squeezed him gently in a warm, comforting hug. “Words might be hard to come by right now for my husband, but I can tell you that this changes nothing. We still love you, and if he ever starts to treat you differently you just pick up the phone and I’ll set him straight.” Anna giggled at her own comments as she tightened the hug once more. She pulled back and leaned across the table to bark at her husband. “You, get your ass up and support your friend. I’m going to feed the baby.” She went back to the living room to attend to the infant, Mandy tried to hide her impressed smile as she began clearing the plates.

“I need a smoke.” Mickey said to no one in particular as he walked towards his bedroom. He grabbed his pack of Marlboros from the bedside table and walked out to the balcony. He lit up with a shaky hand and leant against the rail. He heard the door slide behind him after about two minutes.

“I’d never thought I’d turn into one of those weak ass husbands that need their wife to speak for them. But Jesus Mick, that came out of left field.”

“Sorrry.” The brunette mumbled around his cigarette.

Danny leaned on the rail beside his best friend, “You got nothing to be sorry for. _I’m sorry_. I’m sorry that my fat head got in my way and I couldn’t say to you myself that I don’t care. You might be Mickey who prefers a cock to pussy, which I admit I don’t totally understand, but more importantly you are still the amazingly protective brother, fuckin’ awesome mechanic and my best fuckin’ friend.”       

“Thanks man.” Mickey quickly gave Danny a bro pat on the back as they looked out over the shitty southside neighbourhood

There was a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Danny got back to his old self. “So what brought on this sudden confession?”

Mickey huffed as he expelled the smoke from his lungs, “Miss fuckin’ fix it out there, found out and said she’d out me if I didn’t tell you. Something about being true to myself, to stop hiding”

“Sounds like Mandy. What did she walk in on some guy suckin’ you off?”

“Not exactly.”

“But she did walk in on you? Holy shit.” Danny chuckled to himself.

Once they left and Mandy had given him one last ‘proud of you’ hug, Mickey sank into his mattress feeling as if a pressure had been lifted off his chest.

* * *

 

Mickey had probably had his best night's sleep in years. The stress and worry of being found out was all but gone. The people he cared about the most knew and that’s all that mattered to him at the moment. He moved slowly to the kitchen to make some coffee, picking up his phone as he went. Another 5 missed calls he cleared from the screen before opening up the message from Ian. The video message started to play, it was just a black screen and he could faintly see the outline of Ian’s face. The picture of the video was nothing special but it was the audio that had Mickey chuckling out load to himself. It sounded like someone was working a chainsaw in a consistent rhythm. Then he heard Ian’s whisper.

“ _That noise you ask? Oh, that’s just Gary the chainsaw from the Boston office. He arrived today and apparently we're roommates for the next week. SAVE ME._ ”

Mickey hit dial and an evidently less chipper Ian answered. “Hmmm?”

“A little tired are we, Gallagher?” Mickey mocked.

“Oh my god. Did you hear it, how is that even human?”

“Yeah, my dad was quite the jack hammer. You get used to it.”

“Not in a week.” Ian said with a short temper.

There was a knock at Mickey’s door that distracted him from his conversation with Ian. He walked over and peered through the peep hole. He stood stunned at the door as another knock came.

“Mick! Mick, you there? Are you listening?”

“What? Sorry, uhhh something’s come up. I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up before Ian had a chance to answer and opened the door.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“You do not answer your phone.”

“Uhh, maybe because I don’t want to talk to you.” Mickey barked with annoyance.

“You are such angry man. This is not about you. Yevgeny, come give your father hello.”

The small, dark-haired boy stuck his head inside the doorway from the hallway, “Hi daddy.” He said innocently as he tried to avoid the confrontation between his parents.

Mickey crouched down to meet the young boy’s eye level, “Hey Evan, how you doin’ buddy?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all those who are still loyal to this storyline after such a long wait. Again, I can't say when I will another update done as I have just started my busiest semester of school. I promise to try.
> 
> Thank you for all of the comments, kudos and thanks to all that just took the time to read. I appreciate all the love.
> 
> ericabo0.tumblr.com


	9. Bad Dreams & Bath Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has become a real struggle for me and I am afraid it is quite evident in this chapter. I had a few short plot ideas and I tried to tie them all together to create a cohesive narrative; I hope I was somewhat successful. I was struggling with this before season 5 even aired and watching that horrible mess of a season did not help in the slightest. So without further ado...

_Previously: end of Ch.8_

~ There was a knock at Mickey’s door that distracted him from his conversation with Ian. He walked over and peered through the peep hole. He stood stunned at the door as another knock came.

“Mick! Mick, you there? Are you listening?”

“What? Sorry, uhh something’s come up; I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up before Ian had a chance to answer and opened the door.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“You do not answer your phone.”

“Uhh, maybe because I don’t want to talk to you.” Mickey barked in annoyance.

“You are such angry man. This is not about you. Yevgeny, come give your father hello.”

The small, dark-haired boy stuck his head inside the doorway from the hallway, “Hi daddy.” He said innocently as he tried to avoid the confrontation between his parents.

Mickey crouched down to meet the young boy’s eye level, “Hey Evan, how you doin’ buddy?”~

* * *

_Chapter 9:_

The 6 year old moved into the tiny apartment and hovered by his mother’s side.

“We need to talk. Yevgeny, go and play.” Svetlana’s tone remained calm and serious.

“But Mama I want to stay …”

“Yevgeny! Do not argue.”

“Eh, it’s okay kid. Your mom and I need to talk. You know how to play Xbox, right?” The look on the young boy’s face said everything; a perfect mix of both pride and annoyance, as if to say ‘of course I do.’ “Yeah, ‘course you do. Well I got a new first person shooter, why don’t you go try it out for me.”

“No guns.” Svetlana said sternly as Mickey stood up from where he was kneeled in front of Yevgeny and rolled his eyes; the dark haired boy also stopped on his way to the TV with an audible moan.

“Don’t worry Ev, I’m sure there’s something else there you can play.” He moved into his small galley kitchen and called over his shoulder as Svetlana followed: “you want coffee?”

“I cannot stay long, Stephen waits for me.”

“You still with that geriatric viagroid?” Mickey smiled around the lip of his mug.

“He is not so old and you cannot judge, he takes care of me and your son. Which is why I come. I need you to watch Yevgeny, Stephen’s sister dies and we go to Arizona.”

Mickey swallowed slowly as he tried to process what his Ex was saying. He licked his lips as he stared down into his coffee, “How long?”

“Couple weeks, maybe only few days; her cancer is much progressed.”

“Jesus.” Mickey audibly sighed, “What am I… I mean, how am I … where is he even supposed to sleep? I only got one bed.”

“You have couch.”

“I ain’t gonna make my kid sleep on my goddamn couch!”

“Then you sleep on couch. I have no time for this; you watch him, yes? I go to airport.” She adjusted her large purse on her shoulder and turned to head back to the entry way. She grabbed a small red backpack from outside the door, “School begins at 8:30. He has tutor on Monday, soccer on Tuesday and karate on Thursday.”

“Hold the fuck on? You’re leaving now?”

She muttered something under her breath before calling down the hall, “Yevgeny, idi syuda.”

Mickey was struggling to process what was happening; it felt as if he was watching from a distance, like he was watching a drama play out on TV. “Yes, I go now. I write everything down in here, address, times, everything.” She continued as she handed the bag to Mickey. “… and Yevgeny knows.”

The boy trudged over with a solemn look on his face as his mother knelt down and pushed an unruly strand of hair out of his eyes. “Myshka, ya tebya ochen lyublyu.” The boy gripped his mother hard in a tight embrace and buried his head in her shoulder and started to sob slightly. Svetlana brushed her hand down the back of his head as she spoke softly in his ear. “Ne plach. Ne plach. Do skorogo.” She pulled away and blinked away the tears that were on the verge of falling as she opened the door. “Okay, I go. His bags are in hallway.” She leaned over and placed one more kiss on the top of Yevgeny’s head before she turned down the hallway to the elevator. The small boy stepped out of the doorway and watched after his mother, she blew him a kiss as she stepped through the opening doors.

**XXX**

** Glossarry of Terms **

**Idi syuda** – Come here

**Myshka, ya tebya ochen lyublyu** – Little mouse, I love you so much.

**Ne Plach** – Don’t cry

**Do skorogo** – see you later

**XXX**

Once she had gone, the two moved back into the tiny apartment. Mickey’s hands twitched awkwardly by his side as an uneasy silence fell between them; he craved a cigarette, anything to provide a distraction. Evan stood a few feet from his father; his black hair just as unruly as Mickey’s had been at that age, his blue eyes scanned aimlessly around the room as his hands similarly twitched. Evan began to fiddle with the zipper on his jacket as Mickey crossed and uncrossed his arms across his chest desperately wishing he had put a pair of pants on over his boxers when he got out of bed, something with pockets he could shove his hand into. His days with Evan had always been scheduled; it gave him time to plan out activities that would avoid this awkwardness. He coughed to mask the laugh that threatened to erupt as he pictured how pathetic he must look.

“Alright then, let’s put your shit – I mean, your stuff in my room.” He cringed as he realized he needed to be more conscious of his language. He knew Svetlana hated how much he swore. They picked up the boy’s bags and Mickey dropped them in the corner and scanned over the bed, mentally making note that he needed to change the sheets.

“You’re going to sleep in here and I’ll crash on the couch.” He moved to pull the fitted sheet off but turned back to the boy with both concern and curiosity, “You don’t wet the bed or anything, do you?”

“I’m not a baby, Dad. I’m almost 7.” The boy replied with an obvious tone.

Mickey smiled as he pulled the rest of sheet off, “Almost 7, huh? Last I checked your birthday was in February, you still got 8 months to go.”

“That’s why I said almost, Dad.” Evan was starting to get annoyed at his father’s failure to understand his perfectly sound 6 year old logic.

“How stupid of me. Well, almost 7 year old, did you eat? ‘Cause I think Aunt Mandy has the morning shift at the diner today.”

Evan beamed, his excitement building, “I can still eat, I have room!” He rushed back to the front door, eager to go.

Mickey huffed at laugh at all consuming emotion only a child can portray as he dropped the sheets in his hamper and grabbed a pair of jeans and a semi-clean tee from the floor.

* * *

“AUNT MANDY!!!!” The boy practically flew into the diner and launched himself onto one of the vinyl covered stools at the counter.

Mandy turned around stunned as she watched her brother saunter through the door, she didn’t let the confusion settle on her face long, she came around the counter and crushed her nephew in a hug. “Hey Short Stop, I didn’t know you were seeing your dad today.”

“Well, that makes two of us.” Mickey quipped from behind her.

The waitress looked back at her brother, her eyes saying everything.

“I want French toast, fluffy eggs and bacon.” Evan spoke up to her.

“Are you seriously trying to tell me you haven’t had breakfast yet, little man?” Mandy said with a false sternness.

“Dad said I could.”

“Well, if Dad said.” She replied sarcastically as she made her way back around the counter and began pouring a cup of coffee for Mickey. “Why don’t you go get a booth and I’ll see what I can do.”

Mickey leaned on his elbows against the counter and grabbed his head at his temples when Evan was out of sight.

“Start talkin’ man, ‘cause I don’t think you decided to become father of the year overnight.”

He flipped her the bird without lifting his head, “I dodged her calls last night and woke up this morning with her and the kid at my door.”

“She always did have a flare for the dramatics. What’s it this time? She ditchin’ that Steve guy for someone older and richer?”

“Something about Steve’s sister dying or some shit.” He said around the rim of his coffee cup.

He told Mandy all he knew; his stress and anxiety continually building as he went over their sub-par living arrangement, Evan’s schedule and its clash with his own work schedule “… and to make shit worse the rich fucker is footing the bill for some queer-ass private school half way across town, it’s gonna be like over an hour to get there on the L.” Mickey was internally screaming as everything came to the surface and began to overwhelm him.

“You’re going to give yourself a heart attack. You know Danny is going to give you time off if you need it. You have to get up a little earlier in the morning, so what? It will make up for some of the sleep deprivation you missed out on when he was a baby. And you sleeping on that couch is completely to my benefit, it’s all the convincing I need for you to buy a new one. Anyway, what you should really be worried about is where your sexy redhead is going to stay.” Mandy chuckled softly as she watched her brother physically pale.

“He doesn’t even know, does he?” Mandy could read her brother like a book and right now he wasn’t even making it a difficult read, right now he was the equivalent of a children’s picture book.

“He don’t need to. Besides he’s in New York for a bit and the kid will be back with his mom by the time he’s back.”

“And what? You think you can just carry on fucking and he’s not gonna find out. ”

“Why you makin’ this into something, huh? Next you gonna ask me to walk in that fuckin’ parade in a pair of assless chaps?”

“Whatever, dickwad. I just want you to stop feeling like you have to hide. This guy was clearly cool with seeing someone as deep in the closet as you, I don’t think it will suddenly become too much if you say you have a kid; maybe just keep the details of the whole thing to a minimum. And Evan’s too young to already have homophobic asshole opinions, so just stop lying and start living, Mick.” She’d kept her voice low as she delivered her lecture, sparing the two other customers from hearing her sisterly advice.

“You finished, Mother Superior? I’m going to go have a smoke. Watch my kid.” He played it like he hadn’t heard Mandy’s advice, and he nonchalantly got up and made his way outside fully aware of the frustrated expression on his sister’s face. He had heard her though; everything she’d said was playing on repeat in his head. For as long as he could remember he had been blanketing his true self with lie after lie; the thought of opening up, even just a little bit, terrified him and his appetite disappeared completely as his stomach twisted in a knot. As luck would have it his mind was drawn out of its minor panic as his phone chirped with a newly received text message.

**Everything alright? You sounded a little spooked this morning.**

It was like Ian had a sense of when people were talking about him. Mickey stared at the message blankly as he finished off his cigarette; his mind being pulled in all directions as he thought of what to say.

**Just an unexpected delivery. All good.**

It wasn’t a complete lie, Mickey reassured himself; but the full truth was also something you shouldn’t tell someone in a text.

**Its not ur bday right?**

Mickey smiled, because of course Ian would be someone to freak out about missing a birthday.

**Nah. Unexpected remember**

**As long as I didnt miss it. juniors got pulled into a big project today so it may be radio silence for a bit**

Confirmation about Ian’s opinion on birthdays; Mickey wanted to groan with annoyance but there was a part of him that was excited about what the redhead considered a good birthday. He looked back into the diner to see Mandy hunched over Evan, watching as he scribbled all over the paper placemat with a crayon. He felt his throat began to tighten as the thoughts of both Ian and Evan took over his mind.

**All good Red. Do what u do.**

He needed to focus on one thing at a time and maybe not hearing from Ian for a while was for the best. It would let him get a handle on things.

**Oh, I’ll do it ;)**

Mickey let himself smile at Ian’s completely lame sex joke but he didn’t respond; he shoved the phone back into his pocket waited a beat as he tried to get into dad mode, he went back in the diner fully composed not giving any hints to his sister that he had been contemplating her advice.

* * *

Ian stretched back in the conference chair as he let out a loud yawn, his spine releasing a few brief cracks. His pale blue dress shirt, long since untucked and heavily wrinkled, rose up his middle as he pushed his arms over his head. He could feel an uneasiness settle in his body, he had been stationary for far too long; his head pounded as the combination of lack of sleep and too much caffeine became too much. He checked the clock for the hundredth time that hour; he and three fellow junior associates had not left their small conference room for nearing 15 hours. It was a last minute decision but the higher ups had thought it a good challenge to have the juniors compose an entire business plan for one of the top banking firms in the country. The bank was in the final stages of acquiring one of their lesser known competitors who specialize in digital offerings and convenience and are keen to restructure their marketing and product offering to attract a more youthful customer but also satisfy their existing clientele. The juniors had been split into three teams and were all due to have a full plan finished and 20 minute outline presentation prepared in the next 12 hours. It was purposely an impossible task; they couldn’t possibly cover all they needed to cover in the time they were given. But under pressure is where Ian thrived and he lived for a good question and answer period, he was charming and suave and in a competition he could bullshit with the best. Any topic whether covered or not he could manage to come up with a semblance of an answer, but it was his confidence and energy that really sold it. The Infinity Consulting board would decide on the winning plan, the senior associates then combine bits and pieces from all three plans into their own pitch to the bank; the winning team however gets fast tracked into management consultant positions at their respective offices complete with a hefty raise and vehicle stipend. Competitiveness came naturally to Ian, being the middle child he was used to proving his worth and fighting for attention. He thanked whatever God decided to listen when he wasn’t placed on the same team as Boston Garry. Apart from his deeply flawed nasal cavity he was also a self-obsessed prick who though the sun shone out of his ass and was the laziest piece of shit that Ian had ever met.

Ian glanced around the room. He was probably in the best of the three groups; completely by chance he and Beca had ended up in the same group. She was North Side and a few years older than Ian as it took her a while to find a degree she liked; being from the same office it was easy for them to work together, they had a good balance. Beca was a thinker and great at implementation, she was able to take all the crazy ideas that Ian spit out and find the most compatible option. She was currently curled up in the corner furthest from the door using Ian’s blazer as a blanket and her own as a pillow as she took a brief nap. Darren from San Fran was probably the most gorgeous human being Ian had ever met, he was half black with a build similar to his own and his eyes were just on the edge of green but not quite blue. If Ian wasn’t 100% convinced the man was straight or if his mind wasn’t completely focused on a certain grumpy brunette he would have totally jumped his bones. Darren was an all-rounder, he could thoroughly handle any part of the business plan; similar to Ian but with a less intense creative impulse, he was also their PowerPoint wizard. He too had fallen asleep, hunched over the table with his head resting on his arms. Finally they had Raveneet, a local junior from the New York office; she was the research queen, currently she sat on the opposite length of the table switching back and forth between two laptops her dark hair tied up in a messy bun atop her head with a few pens sticking out of the hair band.

Ian’s knee began to bounce as he finished typing up a section of the report; his body was slowly giving him signs that he needed to go and expel some of this restlessness. Ian waved his hand in front of Raveneet to get her attention as he stood up. She removed one of her ear buds and looked at him questioningly, the unmistakable sound of Freddie Mercury singing ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ blasting from the little speaker.

“I’m going to go down to the gym for half an hour; I just need to move a little bit.”

“Okay. No problem.” She smiled at him, a little too big. Ian fought the urge to shut her down right there, he was all for being out and proud but letting her think she had a chance with him, at least for the next 12 hours, would make things much less complicated. She moved to place the bud back in her ear.

Ian reached out and softly grabbed her hand, holding it as he asked: “Can I get you anything on my way back, a smoothie maybe?” He saw her blush slightly as she shook her head ‘no’. He made his way out of the room and as soon as he was out of sight of the small glass panel he ran a hand through his hair and cringed. His attempt at casual flirting had been absolutely abysmal, he had clearly been a little too intense. _It was the hand holding, the hand holding was too much_. He berated himself as he made his way towards the elevator. He was not looking forward to letting Raveneet down when the presentation was over.

He ran full out on the treadmill desperate to feel the burn in his lungs and legs; he’d left his phone charging upstairs, so his mind wandered without music to distract him. He lasted all of 7 minutes before the image of a stocky man with dark hair, grease laden hands and a perfect bubble butt invaded his mind. He tried shaking his head a couple of times, physically trying to rid the image of Mickey from his mind; the only thing that seemed to keep his thoughts at bay was reciting some of the information he had been staring at for the past day. By the time the 30 minute timer beeped and the treadmill began to slow Ian had pretty much perfected his presentation script and those of his teammates as well.

The feel of the shower after so long in the same room with three other people was in itself, orgasmic, but it was the creeping thoughts of a certain mechanic that was causing Ian’s hands to wander down to his semi-hard cock. He couldn’t believe that a man he had known for next to no time at all was turning him into a horny teenager. Ian bit his lip to in attempt to silence himself as his hands slid skillfully over his length. He was picturing Mickey in his coveralls, hands covered in black grease as he sucked on a cigarette; then Mickey was naked in the hallway of his tiny apartment, how he had been before Ian had left for New York. He came quickly with a huff and leaned forward to rest his head against to cool tile wall.

The room was quiet, all but the sounds of the shower and Ian’s light breathing. Ian nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice spoke out from somewhere else in the room.

“I feel ya man. Not getting any from your girl too?”

Ian felt his face flush as he realized he wasn’t alone. He took a deep breath, grabbing his towel and pushing the curtain back. He tried to compose himself despite the embarrassment he was feeling. It’s not like he hadn’t been caught jacking off before, he had shared a room with three brothers growing up and privacy was a very rare commodity. It was an entirely new situation being caught in public buy a stranger, even more so when Ian looked up and saw that the only other man in the change room was Trevor Coleman. Trevor Coleman was the poster boy for Infinity Consulting and the man that every junior associate strived to be. He had gotten an internship straight out of college and within 5 years had worked his way up to a management level position, heading up top level accounts and raking in over 100k a year. Ian recognized him immediately; he had been wrapping up an account at the Chicago office when Ian had started just over a year ago. He dropped his gaze to try to hide the surprise that was no doubt evident on his face. Trevor looked equally surprised to see Ian step out of the shower.

“Shit. My bad, bro. Thought you were Mike, he’s usually wrapping up when I’m starting.”

Ian didn’t trust himself to speak; he simply nodded his head and made his way over to the locker he had hung his stuff in. He could sense he was being looked at as he rummaged through his backpack for his deodorant. He turned his head and Trevor quickly dropped his gaze to feign complete concentration on the laces of his runners. Ian couldn’t help but smirk, the big shot Trevor Coleman was checking him out after just complaining he wasn’t getting’ any from a girlfriend. Trevor was going to be one of the judges for the junior competition; Ian figured that he might be able to get a leg up if he milked this discovery. He shifted his weight and angled his body so his naked chest was more in view to the starring exec. He caught Trevor’s eyes giving him an up and down from where he was hunched over his shoes.

“That’s a nice tat, very… um… American. Must’ve hurt.”

“Oh this.” Ian feigned ignorance as he drew his hand slowly over it and down the rest of his side. “Yeah, but it was a good kind of pain. You know when you just need something to hurt; you need it to get a bit rough to remind you of how good it can be.” Ian pushed his hand through his wet hair as he dropped his towel for emphasis. The look on Trevor’s face was confirmation enough he understood Ian wasn’t talking about getting a tattoo.

Trevor cleared his throat to hide his stammer as he stood up. “Doesn’t sound like my kind of thing.” He tried to play it off as he went to grab a bottle of water from his locker.

“Shame. I think it’d really suit you.” Ian responded smoothly as he adjusted the collar of his dress shirt. Trevor moved to leave the change room, “I guess I’ll see you in a few hours.” Ian called out before he got to the door. Trevor turned back with a look a mix of surprise and intrigue. “The junior associate competition; you’re one of the judges, right?”

“You’re in that?” Trevor asked an air of nervousness in his voice.

Ian fiddled with his wet hair in the mirror before grabbing his bag and making his way over to the door. “Reping the Chicago office.” He leaned into the man entirely too close for it to be interpreted as anything other than sexual and whispered in his ear, “Group 2. You can’t miss me.” He pulled back to see the stunned look on the man’s face, gave him a quick wink and was out the door, leaving him to process on his own.

He leaned against the wall of the elevator with a smile; he may be shit at flirting with women but his skills with men were unmatched. His thoughts drifted to Mickey and he tried to imagine what kind of commentary the mechanic would have provided if he was watching the exchange. “ _I think saying you wanna stick your dick in ‘em would have been less subtle than that tattoo shit, Gallagher._ ” Heaviness started to settle over him and shame began to build as he kept thinking of Mickey. He knew it was just some innocent flirting and that nothing was going to come of it, but the sense that he had somehow betrayed Mickey by being so open with another man began to bother him. They had only just agreed to give whatever they have a shot but Ian was overcome with the feeling that he needed to make it up to Mickey. He needed to get back to Chicago and make it right.

* * *

Mickey was exhausted and willed sleep to come. It had been a full day running around with Evan; they had gone to a field after breakfast at the diner so Evan could show off his soccer skills, then they had spent 2 hours in the grocery store because Evan needed to pick up and talk about practically every single item. He was talking a mile a minute about what his mama let him eat and what he ate when she wasn’t looking. Mickey couldn’t help but smile at the kid and be proud of his deception skills. Back at the apartment later that afternoon it was time for a karate skills exhibition, Mickey watched proudly as his kid exuberantly kicked and punched the air. He might not like this Stephen asshole, but he was grateful for him footing the bill and allowing his kid to be a kid. He’d settled him down after dinner and found Captain America on Netflix; after telling his dad multiple times that he was going to be a superhero when he grew up he drifted off to sleep near the end of the movie. Mickey looked down at the kid curled up in the corner of the couch, contemplating waking him or carrying him into the bedroom. He heard Mandy’s voice in the back of his mind as he watched the kid, unsure.

_Be a dad, you chicken shit!_

He scooped the kid up as gently as he could and tucked him into his bed. He checked his phone again before settling in for a night on the couch; he hadn’t heard from Ian for most of the day, no doubt he was busy doing something in the corporate world that Mickey wouldn’t understand. He tossed and turned for hours, refusing to agree with his sister about the uncomfortable state of his couch and determined to find a decent position. He’d spent at least an hour in that stage of half sleep, when you’re not fully awake but also not fully asleep; uneasiness settled over him and something was pulling at his consciousness telling him to wake up. He opened his eyes slowly.

“JESUS, FUCK!” He jumped with a start as he woke to a face practically hovering over him.

“I’m sorry.” The face softly whispered.

“Evan? What the hell are you doing, why aren’t you in bed?”

“Sorry, daddy. I had a bad dream.” The kid mumbled into his chest as he fiddled with the edge of his Spiderman pajama top.

“You had a bad dream.” Mickey repeated as he took a calming breath and dragged his hand down his face.

Evan slowly nodded his head ‘yes’ to his father’s rhetorical statement.

“So, what? You need me to scare away the monsters or somethin’?” Mickey asked genuinely, trying to imagine what a perfect parent would do.

“I’m not a baby, dad.” The kid said, for the second time, in all seriousness; in that moment Mickey realized how much he was really lacking in his knowledge of 6 year olds. “I just want to know if I can sleep out here with you?”

“There’s no room out here Ev.” Mickey replied without thinking.

“Fine!” Evan yelled; he stormed back into the room, slamming the door as he went.

“Fuck.” Mickey berated himself as he placed his feet on the floor and ran a hand through his tangled hair. He made his way to the bedroom, intent on fixing things. He didn’t knock and was grateful that the kid didn’t have a mind to lock him out.

He pushed the door open and was immediately greeted with a “Get Out!”

“Not gonna happen, little man.” Mickey sat himself against the headboard, about a foot from his son’s back.

“There’s not enough room here!” The kid mocked back, bitterly.

“Yevgeny, whatever the hell your middle name is, Milkovich. You better stop with the attitude or we’re gonna have a problem.”

The kid froze and slowly turned his head upon hearing his father use his given name.

“What I meant is that the two of us wouldn’t fit on my horrible excuse of a couch, but there is room for the two of us in here. So I’m gonna sleep right here.” Mickey hoped he hadn’t gone too far with the reprimand; he shuffled under the covers and padded the pillow under his head.

Before Mickey knew it the kid was rolling over and squeezing him into a hug with his small arm wrapped around his middle. “I’m sorry.” Evan mumbled, his head resting on Mickey’s chest.

“Don’t worry about it.” He reassured him; he instinctively began to stroke his hand through his son’s equally messy hair.

They lay silent for a few minutes as Mickey continued to comfort Evan.

“Mikhailo.” Evan spoke softly; Mickey’s hand froze in his hair in surprise.

“Who told you that?”

“What do you mean?” he asked innocently.

“There are only two people who could have told you my real name, your mother or Aunt Mandy. I just want to know which one I’m gonna have to talk to.”

“It’s what mama says when she’s angry, ‘Yevgeny Mikhailo Milkovich’.” He emphasized in a more dramatic tone. “You mean Mickey is a fake one?”

Mickey could swear he felt his heart warm realizing that Svetlana had named their kid after him but it also saddened him as he remembered how much he hadn’t been around in the past and how much he really didn’t know his son. He smiled as he watched Evan try to comprehend the two names.

“Mickey is a nickname, kid. Like when people call you Evan but your real name is …”

“Yevgeny.” He said proudly.

“In this family we have secret names. So my secret name is Mikhailo, but we don’t tell people secrets so when people ask my name I tell them …”

“Mickey.”

“You got it, kid. Now, you wanna know another secret?”

Evan nodded his head against his father’s chest.

“Aunt Mandy and your Uncle Iggy have secret names too.”

“Really!?”

“Yup, but I’m not gonna tell you. If you want to know you have to ask them.”

“Okay! Can I ask Aunt Mandy tomorrow?” He asked excitedly.

“Maybe. You gotta get some sleep first though.”

* * *

Mickey woke to a surprisingly empty bed; he glanced at his bedside clock as he reached for his pack of smokes. It was just before 9; apparently kids don’t have a concept of sleeping in. He made his way out to his small balcony as he lit his cigarette. He took a moment to savour the wash of nicotine and the peace of a Sunday morning before he moved down to peak through the window that looked into his living room. Evan was sat on the coffee table entirely too close to the television, completely engaged in the morning cartoon that was playing before him. He smiled as he saw a reflection of himself in that moment. Mickey came back through the bedroom with his cigarette dangling between his fingers.

“Your mom ever tell ya not to sit so close to the TV?”

The kid turned with a wide grin as he jumped back onto the couch, turning backwards to face his father.

“Yeah, she says it will give me old man eyes like Steve.”

“Do me a favour and keep it to the couch, kay? Last thing I need is for your mother to start blaming me if you need glasses. You dressed already?” He was surprised when he noticed Evan was no longer in his pajamas as he made his way to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.

“I wanna go ask Aunt Mandy about her secret name.”

Mickey came back into the living room and stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray on the dining table. The whole business of referring to their given names as secret names might have been a mistake, he had clearly excited his kid too much; Mandy was going to kill him when Evan finally got around to asking.

“Well it’s kinda early, bud. You had breakfast?” He watched as his son shook his head ‘no’.

“Alright then, come on. You’re in charge of the toaster; I’ll get the waffles from the freezer and we’ll call Mandy later to see if she’s busy.”

The challenge and excitement of his new found responsibility as toaster supervisor proved to be a successful distraction. They got through most of the day without really doing much other than watching a couple of movies and playing some video games. A new wave of energy had hit the young boy after dinner; Mickey was cleaning up their mac and cheese with hot dogs as Evan flailed his fists at his father’s heavy bag. Mickey laughed as he listened to his son berate the bag as if it was the next Marvel villain.

“Easy killer, you’re gonna break a hand throwing a punch like that.” Evan was too enthralled with defeating his enemy to respond. It was nearing 8 o’clock and Mickey’s new parental status was reminding him that the kid had school in the morning. “Eh, Mohammad Ali, time for you to take a bath or shower or whatever.”

Evan groaned as he dropped his arms and turned to face his father, “Do I have to? Why can’t I have one in the morning?”

“ ‘Cause I don’t live near your uppity private school and we gotta be outta here early.”

“ S’not fair!” he whined, “Why can’t I just stay home with you until Mama is back. She won’t know.”

Mickey thumbed his lip to hide the smile that was fighting to break free; he might not have been involved much in the kid’s life but that clearly hadn’t stopped him from developing some complete Mickey-like traits.

“Let me tell you one thing about your mother, Ev: She knows everything. Now, quit your whining and get to the tub.”

Mickey had gotten him to agree to a bath after allowing him to bring in some of his toys. He hopped into the warm water eagerly with what Mickey could only assume was the entire Avengers squad in action-figure form. He closed the bathroom door as he listened to his son’s imagination take off into the land of superheroes and make-believe. He grabbed a beer as he started to put Evan’s lunch together. He was fairly certain that this fancy ass school gave them a lunch but he wasn’t taking any chances. There was no way he was going to let his son experience any of the memories he lived with as a kid, when he had no one to make him a lunch. He lined up the health bread, which was any bread other than white bread in Mickey’s opinion; Evan had said it was the one his mother buys, he was about to start placing the ham when there was a knock on the door.

His mind blanked as he tried to imagine who could be at his door at 8:30 on a Sunday night. He peered through the peep hole into an empty section of hallway. He wrenched the door open in annoyance and stepped out to stare down towards the elevator, hoping to catch a glimpse of the fuckwit child playing nicky-nicky-nine-door. Disappointed as the hall was empty he was about to turn back into his apartment when he felt someone push up against his back and whisper down into his ear, “Miss me?”

Instinct kicked in and he turned on his heel, fists ready to deliver a beatdown to whoever had decided to sneak up on him. He saw red hair ducking behind forearms and froze mid swing as he registered who was standing before him.

“Jesus, Gallagher! Don’t you fuckin’ no better than to sneak up on people?”

Ian thinned his lips as he tried to keep from laughing, “My bad, I was helping your neighbour with some boxes and when I looked back the opportunity was there. You’re so paranoid.”

“Helpin’ my neighbour? Seriously? What are you, a fuckin’ boy scout?”

Ian reached out and lightly traced the over the V-neck of Mickey’s shirt. “Maybe… Wanna find out?” A teasing smile played at his lips.

Mickey’s eyebrows rose to the heavens as he processed Ian’s boldness, he nervously scanned the hall before shoving the tall idiot through the doorway.

“mmmm… I like you all rough and handsy.” Ian pushed closer and gripped Mickey’s hips.

His hands had barely made skin contact before Mickey spun out of his grasp and was holding out his arm as a distance barrier. “How are you here right now? I thought you weren’t supposed to be back until the end of this week?”

“Ouch. Well, clearly I missed you more than you missed me.” Ian got defensive; he crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at Mickey unimpressed. “Not that you deserve to know, but I got a promotion, douchebag. I didn’t have to be there, so I came home ‘cause I wanted to see you.”

“Shit, man. I’m not tryin’ to be an ass.” Mickey tried to speak in a softer tone, but his nerves were doing him in. “I’m glad you’re here, you just _can’t_ be here. Not right now.” He moved to try and lead Ian back out the door but the redhead stood firm.

“Why? You already on to someone else? Couldn’t go without it for what, a week?”

“It’s not like that! Can you just go!? I’ll call you tomorrow but right now is really not a good – “

“Daddy! It’s getting cold!”

Ian’s eyes practically bugged out of his head, he opened his mouth to say something, but no words came. Mickey stood, his face blank as he tried to comprehend the realness of the situation. As if on cue, another yell filtered through the thin walls.

“DADDY!!”

Mickey took a breath and let it out through his nose with an audible huff as he turned down the hall toward the bathroom; he hadn’t said a word to Ian, just left him standing in the entryway with a shocked look on his face.

Mickey opened the bathroom door to find a wet floor and soaked through bath mat. “Jesus, kid. You keep any in the tub?” Evan merely cupped his hands in the water and raised them, letting the water run through his fingers for emphasis. “Yeah, yeah, Smartass. Did you wash your hair?”

“No, I don’t like it.”

“Well, tough shi… bananas. Hold your breath and go under. Ready, 1…2…3.”

Ian moved closer to the wall the bathroom shared with the entryway, his curiosity getting the better of him as he eavesdropped. He pushed away from the wall when he heard Mickey coach the child out of the tub.

“You look angry, daddy.” Evan asked as his father ran the towel over his body.

“Not angry, buddy. Something just surprised me, that’s all.”

Evan tried to smooth the wrinkled skin between Mickey’s scrunched eyebrows. Mickey looked up at the kid from where he was kneeling on the wet floor, he smiled as the kid tried to smooth away what he thought was anger. Evan giggled when he saw Mickey watching him. In that moment Mickey changed his plan; he was hoping to just shuffle Evan in to the bedroom and deal with Ian after but this kid deserved better.

“One of daddy’s friends is here. Do you want to meet him?” He wrapped him snugly in a towel and lifted him to sit on his hip. Evan nodded his head slowly, the warmth of the towel lulling him to sleep.

Ian was still stood in the hallway as Mickey and his mini me came out of the bathroom. His jeans and shirt were wet but Ian couldn’t help but admire how good Mickey looked with this kid cuddled in his arms.

“This is daddy’s friend, Ian. Ian, this is Evan.” Mickey could see the realization come over Ian as he began to process everything in a new light.

“Evan?” Ian questioned, needing assurance.

“Evan.” Mickey repeated softly.

Ian held out his hand to the boy who was currently clung to his father’s side, “Nice to meet you, Evan.”

Evan stuck his hand out of the towel and gripped Ian’s fingers awkwardly as he yawned out a ‘Hi’ and dropped his head to rest on Mickey’s shoulder.

“I’m gonna put him to bed; gimme a minute, alright?”

Ian just nodded with a stupid grin on his face as he watched them enter the bedroom.

Mickey came back out a few minutes later; he paused after closing the door to light a cigarette, desperately needing something to calm his nerves. Ian was on the couch, two beers on the coffee table in front of him. Mickey collapsed down onto the empty seat, grabbing his beer as he went and swallowing half of it down. There was silence for about 30 seconds both unsure of what to make of the situation. Ian went for the obvious.

“So, you have a son.”

“Yup, I have a son.”

“How old is he?” Ian tried to get Mickey to open up.

“Shoulda asked him.” Mickey shot back sarcastically; he was overwhelmed and sarcasm was a default.

“He didn’t seem like he was in the mood for a chat.”

“Funny, ‘cause I usually can’t get him to shut up.” More sarcasm; the mechanic visibly cringed with regret once the words had left his mouth.

“Mick…” Ian tried a subtle plea.

“He’s six.” The brunette said around the mouth of his beer bottle as he downed another gulp.

“Six. That would make you … shit, 18? High school girlfriend before you realized you were gay?”

Mickey smirked at Ian’s innocence, he decided to get it all out in one shot. “Nah, man.” He took a brief puff of his cigarette before getting into it. “She was a Russian whore my father hired to ‘fuck the gay out of me’ after he caught me balls deep in one of his gun club buddy’s sons. Pistol whipped me and held her at gun point until he was satisfied. She was fresh off the boat and didn’t know any better so she went to him for money for an abortion. He waved a green card in her face and threatened to out me to the rest of his white supremacist fucks if we didn’t get hitched and play happy family. Started doing really stupid shit, just looking for a reason to get caught. Got hammered one night and tried to boost an undercover cop car, with the cop still in it! Was back in juvie for three months before I aged out and my PO got me the gig with Danny. He was born probably a month or so later but I couldn’t handle it; I left when he was three months, Dad got thrown back in the big house after he shanked someone in a bar fight, saw it as my chance to get out, ya know? Danny took me in until I could afford this place. Didn’t hear anything about them until my sister came to me 3 years ago saying that Svet wanted a divorce so she could marry one of the rich, old white guys that paid for her on the regular. So we met up and actually had our first, honest to god, conversation; I realized that Ev was innocent in all of it and Svet made it clear that we should both be in his life, so I’ve had him occasional Saturdays ever since.”

“You, umm… Jesus! I’m gonna need a minute.” Ian was overwhelmed with all the new information Mickey had given at once. He’d wanted him to open up, but this was on another level. He grabbed his own beer and started to chug it back.

“Take your time. It took me three years.” He let out a chuckle along with a long exhale of smoke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I would just like to apologize for the Russian at the beginning of this chapter. I got it straight from Google translate and it’s probably incorrect but I really wanted to emphasize that Evan is bilingual and he speaks with his mother in her native tongue most of the time. I also chose the phonetic spelling as opposed to the traditional Cyrillic purely for ease of reading purposes.  
> Secondly, I am a horrible person and I am incredibly grateful to those that have stuck with this story. As I mentioned above this story just doesn’t come easy to me anymore. I’m not sure when I will have a new update; I wrote this one entirely when I was at work since I have had nothing to do recently at my summer office job. 
> 
> Thanks again for all the Kudos and Comments <3


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